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

Chapter 71 Liu Yifei: Am I only famous because I'm pretty?

On December 16th, Feng Xiaogang's film "Cellphone" held a grand premiere in Beijing.

Director Feng Xiaogang, screenwriter Liu Zhenyun, and lead actors Ge You, Zhang Guoli, Xu Fan, and Fan Binbin were all present, along with many other well-known celebrities.

When asked by reporters, Feng Xiaogang reiterated that this film is absolutely not about Cui Yongyuan!

But the next day, the premiere of "Cellphone" was completely overshadowed by another event, which was related to one of the film's main actors.

On the same day as the premiere of "Cellphone", a major event occurred at the Central Academy of Drama.

Zhang Mo, the son of renowned director and actor Zhang Guoli, a third-year student in the acting department of the Central Academy of Drama, publicly beat up his girlfriend Tong Yao on the campus of the Central Academy of Drama. Tong Yao, covered in blood, was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

The next day, all major media outlets reported on the incident, which sparked heated discussions across the internet.

However, the specific reason for the assault has not yet been revealed, so most netizens are still focused on the issue of "a celebrity's child assaulting someone".

On December 18th, Feng Xiaogang's "Cellphone" was officially released.

On the morning of the 19th, media reported that the film "Cellphone" grossed over 600 million yuan on its opening day.

On the 20th, Zhang Mo was questioned and admitted to hitting someone, but emphasized that it was because he had been greatly hurt emotionally. He also implied that Tong Yao had an improper relationship with the head of the Department of Performing Arts at the Central Academy of Drama, which once again sparked heated discussions across the internet.

On Monday the 22nd, the box office figures for the first week of "Cellphone" were released.

The box office was 680 million on Thursday, the second day of the week, 725 million on Friday, 910 million on Saturday, and 800 on Sunday.

That means the box office reached 3100 million in the first week.

Production cost: 1500 million; marketing cost: 500 million; total cost: 2000 million.

This is the published cost; the actual cost may be lower.

Before the movie's release, the sponsoring GG sold for 680 million, the audio-visual rights sold for 800 million, and the GG insert sold for 600 million, totaling over 2000 million.

This means that the movie had already recouped all its costs before its release, and even made a profit!

After that, all the profits earned from box office revenue were pure profit!

Upon seeing this box office performance, Tianya and other forums and communities immediately erupted in heated discussions.

As for Xiao Cui's claim that the movie's male protagonist, Yan Shouyi, was based on him, and that he distorted his image, turning a good person into a fraudster, and questioning why such a movie could pass censorship and be released, not many people seem to care.

"Feng Xiaogang's film 'Cellphone' is pretty good!"

"This film, 'Cellphone,' is hilarious. Moreover, Feng Xiaogang didn't just make it funny this time; he also explored many human weaknesses, making it much more profound than his previous New Year's films!"

"It looks like this year's Lunar New Year film season will be dominated by Feng Xiaogang again!"

"This movie already broke even before its release, and based on current box office figures, its profits have already exceeded ten million. It may even surpass 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' to become this year's highest-grossing film!"

"A box office of 3100 million in 4 days could indeed surpass the 5200 million box office of 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'!"

"Is the real-life inspiration for the protagonist of this movie really Cui Yongyuan?"

"Does it matter if it's Cui Yongyuan or not? The movie has already been released, and Feng Xiaogang and Huayi Brothers have already made their money. Cui Yongyuan can't do anything to Feng Xiaogang, much less to Huayi Brothers!"

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Liu Yifei: Congratulations, you're going to be famous again!

Xu: What's so hot about this? Liu Yifei: You're getting cocky just because I said you're fat!

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Xu Heng: That's true. Liu Yifei: Hmph. Xu Heng: Jealous?

Liu Yifei: Do you think it's possible?

Xu Heng: Don't worry, this is just the first broadcast, and it's on a local TV station. Your most outstanding scenes are all later on. I said you would become popular after this drama airs, and you definitely will. After all, you are so beautiful in the drama, and you are naturally suited for period dramas. Liu Yifei: Thank you for your praise, but am I only popular because I am beautiful?

Xu Heng: It's good enough if you can become popular, why are you so picky!

Liu Yifei: Hmph!

It has been 11 days since the premiere of "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" and today is the 12th day.

Two episodes are airing every day, and the plot is already halfway through.

Xu Heng's portrayal of Duan Yu was the most outstanding, and he had the most screen time in the early stages, and his performance was also quite good.

Given his current fame and popularity, he is the focus of most media attention.

Hu Jun's tough-guy image has also been praised by many, and Liu Tao's portrayal of A'Zhu has also received high praise.

Liu Yifei, however, was considered too young and looked too immature, lacking the ethereal and otherworldly temperament of Wang Yuyan in the original novel.

However, this is mainly because Wang Yuyan's early scenes were not particularly outstanding; she was basically just a supporting character.

Even so, Liu Yifei's looks were still recognized by the vast majority of viewers.

Not to mention that Xu was very clear about how popular Liu Yifei's "Fairy Sister" would become in the future.

In my previous life, when I mentioned "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", the first person that came to mind was definitely "Fairy Sister" Liu Yifei.

Just like in the previous life, when people mentioned Zhang Dahuzi's version of "The Return of the Condor Heroes", the first person they would definitely think of was Liu Yifei's Little Dragon Girl!

Currently, this drama is only broadcast on a local TV station, and only on this one local TV station, so it has not yet truly become a mainstream hit!

After chatting with Liu Yifei for a few more minutes, Xu put down his phone.

With "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" currently airing and the release date of "Our Times" drawing ever closer, he and Liu Yifei are chatting more and more frequently, though each conversation doesn't last very long.

The dormitory lights were already off, but the three roommates lying on their beds were still talking loudly.

They are already juniors in college and can move out.

Most of my classmates are no longer in school; they've either joined film crews or are running around auditioning for roles.

Sun Haidong and the other two were all waiting for Xu Heng's movie to be released, and also wanted to curry favor with Xu Heng, so they stayed at the school.

Xu also didn't live outside. He didn't have a girlfriend, so living at school or outside was the same for him. He didn't need to run around to different film sets.

"Feng Xiaogang is awesome! Looks like he's going to take the annual box office crown again!"

Wang Hongyu boasted.

Based on the current box office performance of "Cell Phone," it is not only highly likely that it will surpass the 5200 million yuan box office of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" in mainland China.

"Feng Xiaogang and Ge You truly deserve to be called a golden duo; they have such a strong appeal to the audience!"

Sun Haidong agreed.

In 99, Feng Xiaogang had already won the annual box office champion in mainland China once. The film at that time was "Be There or Be Square", with Ge You as the male lead and Xu Fan as the female lead.

Before "Be There or Be Square", Feng Xiaogang and Ge You also collaborated on "The Dream Factory", which had a production cost of 400 million yuan and grossed 3600 million yuan at the box office.

After "Be There or Be Square", they collaborated on another film, "Endless Love", which had a production cost of 800 million and grossed 3300 million at the box office.

There's also "Big Shot's Funeral," which grossed 4300 million yuan at the mainland box office.

Although the production cost of "Big Shot's Funeral" was as high as 3300 million, it ultimately suffered a loss.

However, this film was co-invested with Columbia Pictures in Hollywood. The loss was only due to poor overseas box office performance. The 4300 million yuan box office in mainland China was definitely not low!

In addition, "Be There or Be Square" was released at the end of 98, so strictly speaking, it cannot be considered the highest-grossing film in mainland China in 99.

However, the runner-up at the 99 mainland box office was "Endless," which was also a film by Feng Xiaogang.

"So what if we won the annual championship? We didn't have a single movie that grossed over 100 million this year, which is far worse than last year! And it's just the box office champion in mainland China; compared to the global box office of Hollywood movies, it's nothing!"

Zhang Zichen said disdainfully.

Can Feng Xiaogang and his film "Cellphone" compare to Zhang Yimou and last year's "Hero"?

Ge You is nowhere near as good as his idol, Li Lianjie!

Moreover, the gap is not only large in mainland China's box office, but also in global box office and international influence!

"If you put it that way, there's no comparison. 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' grossed over 8 million US dollars worldwide, which is equivalent to 70 billion yuan in China. Last year, the total box office for all films in China was less than 10 billion yuan!"

Wang Hongyu gave a soft snort.

He knew Zhang Zichen was probably going to brag about his idol again. Zhang Yimou's "Hero" and Li Lianjie's box office appeal were indeed impressive. Now, "Hero" had grossed over 5000 million US dollars worldwide.

But compared to those real Hollywood blockbusters, the gap is still huge!

"Tony Leung won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actor again, while Andy Lau unfortunately missed out!"

Sun Haidong changed the subject to avoid Wang Hongyu and Zhang Zichen arguing again.

"Wai Tsai's acting skills are far superior to Andy Lau's, and his performance in 'Infernal Affairs' was also better!"

Zhang Zichen commented.

"Chen Daoming's acting skills are also superb; in 'Infernal Affairs 3,' he's in no way inferior to those Hong Kong film emperors!"

Wang Hongyu added.

After the release of "Infernal Affairs 3", he went to see it together with Sun Haidong and Zhang Zichen.

Xu Heng didn't go with them; it's unclear whether he was uninterested or because his junior sister, Yi Fei, wasn't there.

"Chen Daoming's acting skills are definitely not bad, it's just that he plays every role the same way!"

Zhang Zichen offered another evaluation.

Wang Hongyu suddenly remarked, "To be honest, good looks are more important than good acting skills. Take our junior sister Yifei, for example. I guarantee that once this 'Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils' starts airing on a large scale, our junior sister Yifei will definitely become a real star!"

The first episode of "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" hasn't finished airing yet, but they've already watched the videotapes.

Anyway, all the classmates who watched it together agreed that Liu Yifei's portrayal of "Fairy Sister" Wang Yuyan was absolutely stunning!

Especially Wang Yuyan in the later part of the series, describing her as "Fairy Sister" is absolutely not an exaggeration!

"Junior Sister Yifei was already quite popular, okay? She's only slightly less popular than Brother Xu, but how many other female celebrities can be more popular than Junior Sister Yifei?"

Zhang Zichen scoffed.

He admitted that Wang Hongyu's flattery skills were getting better and better, but he was still a little bit inferior to him.

However, what he said was true; that junior sister Yifei is already very popular now.

They also believe that after the widespread broadcast of "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", that junior sister Yifei will definitely be even more popular than she is now!

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