Huayu: Starting with Hijacking from "The Story of a Noble Family"

Chapter 100: Filming Begins for "The Condor Heroes" - Riding a Horse in the Rain

Liu Yifei: Your family's private restaurant is opening, should I do something to celebrate? Xu Heng: No need, I won't even go on opening day myself. Liu Yifei: Why? Xu Heng: Of course, I don't need to personally appear in such a small business. Liu Yifei: Yes, yes, yes, you are a big tycoon and a famous director. Xu Heng: Not yet, but I definitely will be in the future. Liu Yifei: Really, you don't need to do anything?

Xu Heng: You're not thinking of just sending a flower basket and then eating and drinking for free, are you?

Liu Yifei: You're the one who wants to eat and drink for free! Xu Heng: This is my family's restaurant, of course I can eat and drink for free! Liu Yifei: So I wasn't wrong! Xu Heng: I paid for this restaurant, okay? Liu Yifei: So, do you pay for your meals?

Xu Heng and Liu Yifei continued chatting, with no immediate plans for Liu Yifei to meet his parents, to avoid any nagging or misunderstandings from them.

He and Liu Yifei remain very proper and pure friends, and there has absolutely been no cross-border behavior between them!

The Super Girl competition has concluded, with An Youqi winning the championship, Wang Ti winning the runner-up, and Zhang Hanyun winning the third place.

The next day, media outlets reported that An Youqi signed with Tianyu Media after the competition, while Wang Ti and Zhang Hanyun signed with other agencies.

However, Liu Yifei was not stupid. She knew that betting with Xu Heng would result in more losses than wins, and besides, what Xu Heng said made a lot of sense.

For the next period of time, Xu Heng continued to work on the post-production of the film, while Liu Yifei continued her martial arts training before filming "The Return of the Condor Heroes".

Meanwhile, with the seven-day National Day holiday just around the corner, several highly anticipated films have set their sights on this release period.

First is "New Police Story," directed by Benny Chan and starring Hendrik Willem Van Loon, Nicholas Tse, Wu Yan-cho, Wang Jie, Yang Cai-ni, and Choi Cho-yan.

It will be released simultaneously in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia on September 24th, with a production cost reportedly as high as HK$120 million!

Then there's Wong Kar-wai's "2046," starring Tony Leung, Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, Wang Fei, Liu Jialing, and Dong Jie, with a special appearance by Maggie Cheung. It will be released in mainland China on September 28th, and in Hong Kong and Taiwan, it will be released two days later.

Filming for this movie began in 99 and wrapped up in 04, taking a total of 5 years to complete intermittently.

The production cost was close to HK$1 million, more than double the original budget of HK$4000 million!

Next up is Lu Ce's "Kekexili", which was released in mainland China on October 1st, with a production cost of 10 million yuan.

It is said that the overseas rights had already been sold for 80 US dollars before the film's release, and it has almost recouped its costs.

On September 30th, Xu Heng's private restaurant officially opened.

Business was so-so on the opening day; a private restaurant like this definitely needs to build up a good reputation.

Xu Heng continued with the film's post-production. At this time, the start date for filming "The Return of the Condor Heroes" had been set for October.

11th of the month.

Fortunately, the post-production of the film is almost finished, and at most, we will need to work overtime during the National Day holiday.

And just like that, the National Day holiday came to an end.

After working overtime for seven days straight, all the post-production work for "You Are the Apple of My Eye" was finally completed on the last day of the holiday. During this time, Liu Yifei also took some time to come to the school and record the song.

Although it's definitely not as good as the original singer from the previous life, it's not a big problem.

On October 8th, Xu Heng submitted the completed film to Qingdao Film Studio for review.

Afterwards, I went to visit my parents, talked to them about some things, and had a meal with them before preparing to head to Jiuzhaigou.

If all goes well, he should be able to pass the censors directly this time; otherwise, he will have to take leave during filming to return to the Beijing Film Academy.

At this time, "New Police Story," which had been released for half a month, had reached 4000 million yuan at the mainland box office.

It surpassed last year's "Infernal Affairs 3" to become the highest-grossing co-production between mainland China and Hong Kong in the past 10 years.

Including box office revenue from other regions, the total box office reached approximately HK$8000 million.

After 10 days of release, "2046" grossed 2500 million yuan at the Chinese box office.

"Kekexili" has been released for 7 days, but its box office in mainland China is less than 200 million yuan.

Upon seeing media reports about the box office, the Tianya Film and Gossip sections immediately became lively.

"After half a month in theaters, 'New Police Story' has only grossed HK$8000 million in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia combined. That's less than the production cost. It looks like it's going to lose money!"

"It's highly likely to lose money. Hendrik Willem Van Loon has some box office appeal in the US and Europe, but only for Hollywood films. Hong Kong films don't command high box office returns or copyright prices, not to mention Van Loon's Hollywood blockbuster 'Around the World in 80 Days' a few months ago."

"Just now, Disney suffered a huge loss!"

"To be honest, this movie is pretty good, and it's already quite impressive for a Hong Kong film to have such box office results."

"This movie is indeed good, but Hong Kong films always seem to follow the same formula, and it's getting a bit tiresome."

"2046 only grossed 2500 million at the box office, and its box office performance in Hong Kong and Taiwan was also mediocre. It seems difficult to recoup the costs through box office revenue. However, Wong Kar-wai's movies have always been like this. They can slowly recoup their costs through copyright later."

"I just wanted to see what a movie that had been in production for five years would look like, but I was very disappointed after watching it. It felt like it was at best a 1."

It can be filmed in a year!

"This is just a Wong Kar-wai movie. If you're watching it for the plot, don't bother, because most normal people probably won't understand it!"

"I was deeply moved after watching 'Kekexili,' but it's a pity that the box office was not high."

"That's how documentaries are; they rarely have high box office returns. Fortunately, this film shouldn't lose money."

"There's actually a lot to film in Hoh Xil, but it feels like the director didn't really capture it on film."

"This movie is good because of Hoh Xil, not because of the director Lu Zhou!"

66

The previous "Rush Hour" series helped Hendrik Willem Van Loon establish himself in Hollywood.

Especially with "Rush Hour 2", reports say Hendrik Willem Van Loon's total revenue exceeded 4000 million US dollars.

However, the Hollywood blockbuster "Around the World in 80 Days," released in June of this year and carried solely by Hendrik Willem Van Loon at the box office, had a production cost of 1.1 billion.

Despite grossing over $100 million, the film only grossed $70 million worldwide, a disastrous flop that severely damaged Hendrik Willem Van Loon's standing in Hollywood.

As for Wong Kar-wai, his golden status remains intact, many actors still want to act in his movies, and he has no shortage of investment.

Lu Ce's reputation isn't that bad yet; it's just been slightly affected by the film "Kekexili".

On the evening of the 9th, Xu Heng arrived in Jiuzhaigou, where Liu Yifei had already arrived.

We took a day off on the 10th, and held a launch banquet in the evening.

On October 11th, the Zhang Dahuzi version of "The Return of the Condor Heroes" officially started filming in Jiuzhaigou.

A launch ceremony is definitely in order, and it will take place at 9 a.m.

However, the crew had to go to the filming location early in the morning to prepare, so Xu Heng arrived at the crew at 5 a.m. to get his makeup done.

Liu Yifei arrived at the film set even earlier, around 4 a.m.

At 6:30 a.m., the crew of more than 100 people officially set off.

We arrived near Pearl Shoal Waterfall in Jiuzhaigou around 7 a.m. and set up camp. The opening ceremony and the first scene were filmed at Bonsai Beach.

It's almost 9 o'clock, and the opening ceremony is about to begin.

Suddenly, a light rain began to fall, and since it was early morning, the temperature was close to zero degrees Celsius.

The actors were still wearing costumes, especially Liu Yifei's Little Dragon Girl costume, which was made of thin gauze and had almost no warmth.

To avoid looking bulky, I could only wear a very thin, flesh-colored thermal underwear underneath.

Liu Yifei and her mother had spent a long time searching in Beijing to find suitable and warm clothes.

Fortunately, the production team provided Xu Heng and Liu Yifei with special RVs, so they wouldn't have to suffer from the cold when they weren't filming, and they could rest and do their makeup in the RVs.

"It seems really cold today!"

Looking at the rising mist outside, Liu Yifei, who was in the RV, sent Xu Heng a text message.

"It's a bit cold, probably close to zero degrees. Maybe you shouldn't attend the opening ceremony later."

Xu Heng replied quickly.

"Isn't that a bad idea?"

"There's nothing wrong with it. There's still a long shooting period ahead. Don't hurt yourself right after filming starts."

"I'm not that delicate!"

"This isn't about being delicate or not."

"And what about you?"

"Have you forgotten that I've practiced martial arts?"

"My mom won't let me get off the bus either."

"Listen to your mother."

The opening ceremony officially began at 9:00 AM.

Apart from Liu Yifei, all other main cast members were present, and Xu Heng made his first appearance in his complete Yang Guo costume.

After a brief opening ceremony, filming officially began at 10 a.m. for the first scene, "Yang Guo galloping on horseback in the water."

Liu Yifei remained in the RV, neither getting off nor showing herself, and the rain was getting heavier.

However, this was not a problem for Xu Heng, who had full-power Lv.2 martial arts skills, and he completed his role perfectly.

By the time the scene was finished filming, it was already noon.

The crew took a break and continued filming scenes such as "Yang Guo practicing swordsmanship under the waterfall after losing his arm" in the afternoon.

Xu Heng also did a great job, even though the water under the waterfall was absolutely icy cold!

Seeing Xu Heng's performance, Zhang Dahuzi and Yu Min had only one feeling: the 400 million yuan after-tax salary was definitely not too much, and could even be said to be extremely worthwhile!

Around 3 p.m., Xu Heng finished filming his scenes. By then, the rain had subsided considerably, so they prepared to film Liu Yifei's scenes.

At 4 p.m., Liu Yifei made her official appearance and began filming her horseback riding scenes.

In order to film this movie, "The Return of the Condor Heroes", she specially learned to ride a horse.

At this moment, Liu Yifei, dressed in a white gauze costume, combined with her figure, truly deserves the title of "unparalleled in the world," leaving everyone around her completely stunned!

Xu Heng remembered that Zhang Dahuzi had said in his previous life that when they were filming this scene, it was raining, which caused Liu Yifei's costume to be soaked and clinging tightly to her body. In order to avoid a bad influence, many scenes were cut in post-production.

Of course, in reality, nothing was actually revealed.

After the scene was filmed, the staff immediately draped a quilt over Liu Yifei, and Liu Xiaoli quickly handed her daughter a thermos.

But Liu Yifei was already completely soaked, so she still felt very cold.

The rain started to get heavier again, so the director announced that filming for the day would end there.

Otherwise, according to the plan, we would have to continue filming the scene of Little Dragon Girl entering the water.

Before Liu Yifei returned to the RV, the reporters who were still at the scene immediately surrounded her.

They also hoped that Xu Heng and Liu Yifei could take a photo together, and the two did not refuse.

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