Who says Beijing Film Academy has no great directors? (2002)

Chapter 109 Feng Xiaogang Becomes a Joke

Yao Beina looked up in surprise: "How did you know?"

Chen Yan smiled gently: "It's not hard to guess at all. Qianqian mentioned to me that you've been busy with musicals lately."

"You must have put a lot of effort into this show. You would definitely regret missing it."

Yao Beina frowned and nodded; this was the reason for her hesitation.

Chen Yan slowly uttered a few more words: "But the premise is that you still have the chance to regret it."

Yao Beina's expression began to turn somewhat unpleasant.

Chen Yan sighed and said, "Sister Bei Na, you have countless futures ahead of you. Health is the foundation of everything."

I've said this to Xixi before, and I'm saying it to you again: by persisting despite your illness and disregarding your health, the first person you'll hurt is your family.

Yao Beina's tears fell one after another.

She was overwhelmed by guilt, and her voice choked with sobs.

Chen Yan felt that he might be a womanizer. Otherwise, no matter who they were or how old they were, as long as he had a heart-to-heart talk with them, they would cry their eyes out.

Did I touch their emotional threshold?

However, Chen Yan didn't know how to offer comfort: he could only silently hand her a piece of paper and dryly advise, "It's already lucky that it was discovered early."

Yao Beina finally nodded and said, "I will tell my family."

This matter ended faster than Chen Yan had imagined.

After learning that their daughter was ill, Yao Beina's family flew directly from Wuhan to Beijing.

Liu Yifei was relieved when she found out, and even called to comfort her.

This year's Lunar New Year film season is dominated by "A World Without Thieves" and "Kung Fu Hustle". Amid the fierce competition between the two films, rumors have circulated that "A World Without Thieves" stole box office revenue from "Kung Fu Hustle".

The online discussion continued until Wang Zhongjun of Huayi stepped forward to refute the rumors, saying: "Both films were co-invested by Huayi, and there was no situation of them stealing each other's box office revenue."

The situation then calmed down.

However, Chen Yan understood that "Kung Fu Hustle" was a co-production, with the majority of the investment coming from Columbia Pictures, a subsidiary of Sony, which held 95% of the shares and the core copyrights and global distribution rights.

The company owned by Huayi Brothers has less than 3% of the investment and is only responsible for approval, publicity and distribution in mainland China and the landing of cinemas. They just get a small share of the profits.

However, Huayi Brothers accounted for 50% of the production cost of "A World Without Thieves," and the film had a large number of product placements, which almost wiped out the production cost before it was released.

In this situation, it's not surprising that Huayi is crying wolf, even though it's just money laundering from one hand to the other. They make more money from the money laundering.

Kung Fu Hustle broke 100 million yuan at the Chinese box office on December 29. Then, A World Without Thieves also officially broke 100 million yuan after 24 days of release. The media in the industry suddenly forgot about past grievances and began to congratulate the Chinese 100 million yuan box office club on the addition of another genius director.

Some media outlets also staked out Chen Yan, eager to know his thoughts on Feng Xiaogang's film breaking 100 million yuan at the box office.

Whether it's congratulations or scorn, whatever the reason, Chen Yan's statement only adds to Feng Xiaogang's popularity.

The media is now portraying the two as people who "don't want to meet."

Upon seeing the report, Chen Yan scoffed, "Heh, he doesn't even deserve to meet me, a king."

Chen Yan simply went back to his uncle's house. He wasn't going to carry Feng Xiaogang's sedan chair; let the media talk nonsense.

I'm determined to spend Chinese New Year with my uncle this year, and my aunt has called several times to urge me to do so. As for Liu Yifei, she can only spend the New Year with Liu Xiaoli on set this year.

On January 20th, "So Young" was scheduled to premiere on Valentine's Day.

China Film Group's trailers are generating a lot of buzz, with promotional slogans all claiming it will take over the mantle from "A World Without Thieves" and "Kung Fu Hustle".

On Chinese New Year's Day, Chen Yan received two large red envelopes from his uncle and aunt as soon as he woke up.

Chen Yan didn't hesitate and accepted it directly, opening the envelope with a smile. Inside were eight red bills.

This was considered quite high at the time.

"Thank you, Uncle and Aunt! Happy New Year and good health!" Chen Yan accepted the red envelope and said a few auspicious words.

My aunt was overjoyed.

As soon as Chen Yan woke up, his uncle took him to put up Spring Festival couplets and set off firecrackers.

My aunt prepared delicious food for everyone at home. Since there were hardly any shops open near our house that day, we had stocked up on a lot of vegetables and meat.

Chen Yan and her uncle were busy outside when her aunt came out with her hands covered in flour and asked, "Yan Yan, what do you want to eat?"

Chen Yan smiled and reached out to steady the hanging Spring Festival couplets: "Auntie, anything is fine, I'm not picky."

My aunt narrowed her eyes and said, "Okay."

After tidying up, my aunt had prepared a table full of dishes, a variety of fried, stir-fried, and braised dishes, all of which looked and smelled delicious.

Chen Yan obliged and ate two large bowls of rice, until he was quite full.

After lunch, Chen Yan took a walk in the yard to digest his food, and then called Liu Yifei.

The call was answered after three rings.

Happy New Year, Chen Yan!

Hearing the girl's clear and melodious voice coming through the microphone, Chen Yan replied, "Happy New Year, Qianqian! What did you eat today?"

The girl on the other end started counting on her fingers: "Braised fish, braised pork knuckle, boiled shrimp, and Mom also made me sweet and sour pork, which was especially delicious."

Chen Yan then asked, "Is your neck still hurting from being suspended by wires lately?"

Liu Yifei shook her head: "Recently, the frequency of action scenes has decreased, and there are fewer night shoots, so I'm not tired at all."

Hearing Liu Yifei say this, Chen Yan felt a little relieved, as Zhang Jizhong was still quite trustworthy.

The two chatted for a while longer before reluctantly hanging up the phone.

Chen Yan was called out by her aunt to eat fried food again. Chen Yan had a feeling that she would definitely gain a lot of weight after the New Year.

By February 13th, promotional materials for "So Young" were all over the internet.

The trailers and behind-the-scenes footage released online have whetted the appetites of young men and women. The New Year has just passed, but everyone's enthusiasm has not diminished at all. On the contrary, because they were a bit irritable from being cooped up during the New Year, they wanted to rush to the cinema as soon as the holiday was over.

Couples who hadn't seen each other for a long time all made plans to go to the cinema to watch "So Young" on Valentine's Day.

The cinema launched a limited-edition couples' ticket package, which includes two tickets, a pack of tissues, two Cokes, and a bucket of popcorn.

Some media outlets predict that this film will fall far short of Feng Xiaogang's "A World Without Thieves," and will likely flop, becoming a Waterloo in director Chen Yan's career.

On February 14th, the cinema used data to give these critics a resounding slap in the face.

"So Young" had almost 100% occupancy during prime time, and none of the other films released at the same time could compete. Films that the media had high hopes for, such as "A Time to Love" and "Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies," flopped one after another.

The market was almost completely drained by "So Young".

The next day, the box office of "So Young" once again shocked the entire internet. The box office of 45 million yuan on the first day climbed to 56 million yuan on the second day, breaking 100 million yuan in two days!

Although it dropped to 2700 million on the third day.

However, it still broke the record for the fastest company to reach 100 million yuan in sales in mainland China.

The next day, the media that were marketing Feng Xiaogang immediately changed their tune: Director Feng Xiaogang was thoroughly defeated, and Director Chen Yan is making another strong push!