The King of Directors 2000

Chapter 394 Waterloo of the Dragon
July [-] was as hot as ever.

Lee Sung Yew completed the entire production of "The Hangover", and Carly wrote a fast song and recorded it.

He listened to it, and felt that it was okay. Carly sang fast songs very nicely.

The post-production of "The Hangover" was completed, and then it was sent to the Beautiful Country Film Association for rating.

When Li Shengyao returned to China, he watched the variety shows produced by Fenghua. He called the director, assistant director, and editor of the variety shows over and told them how to edit and edit to establish the style of these variety shows.

After doing this, he rushed to the beautiful country again.

One evening at the end of July, when the sky was filled with colorful clouds, Li Shengyao met Cheng Long in a villa in Los Angeles.

He was invited by Cheng Long to come to exchange feelings.

Cheng Long was wearing a black and white shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of net shoes.

This combination makes Cheng Long look younger, but his eyes are bloodshot and his face is tired.

This villa was bought by Cheng Long in Beautiful Country, besides himself, the Prince Fang was also there.

Prince Fang's voice is very nasal, and he feels a bit like ABC, and a bit like young people in Hong Kong Island.

He chatted with Li Shengyao casually.

"Stinky boy, learn from Director Li. You know how to play all day long, look at others, and then look at you, won't you be embarrassed."

The Prince Fang ignored Cheng Long at all, and left with a few hums.

Cheng Long shook his head and said: "It's so annoying, this brat is spoiled by his mother, he plays all day, either in nightclubs or in sports cars."

"It's getting more and more unsafe here in the beautiful country, I plan to let him go back to Hong Kong Island."

"Come, Director Li, have some tea."

The cooking aunt brought a pot of tea, and Cheng Long poured a cup of tea for Li Shengyao himself, and then he lay back and leaned on the sofa, "Oh, I'm so exhausted."

During the recent period, Cheng Long has been promoting "Rush Hour 3", running around, not only in the beautiful country, but also in several European countries, which is indeed very tiring.

Li Shengyao said with a smile: "Let the cooking aunt cook soup for you tomorrow to nourish your body."

Cheng Long laughed, waved his hands and said, "I don't have time, I'm going to New York to be on the show tomorrow."

He continued, "Director Li, how is the country doing?"

"What else can I do? Generally speaking, our movies are under pressure."

At the domestic box office in 2006, apart from "Taken" and finally "The Golden Flower", almost all other films were suppressed by Hollywood films.

The domestic box office in 2007 was actually about the same. In Li Shengyao's previous life, Hollywood movies dominated the world at the beginning of 2007.

It wasn't until December that "Certificate of Voting" and "Assembly" came out one after the other, and they both took in [-] million box office.

Cheng Long nodded, and then he asked, "Isn't "The Hangover" released in China?"

He had heard about The Hangover.

Li Shengyao shook his head, "It won't be screened in China, and it won't pass the trial."

"It should be okay to change it?"

"Forget it, it's too troublesome, let's release it in Europe and America."

Cheng Long nodded, and then changed the subject, "This time I went to Europe to promote, and I think the effect is pretty good."

Although he was tired, the excitement in his eyes was very obvious.

"Rush Hour 3" is his first film with a share of the global box office. Once the results are good, he will be more confident in the future, and he may be able to claim a share of the global box office in the future.

For "Rush Hour 3", he is full of expectations.

"Director Li, how much box office do you think "Rush Hour 3" will have?"

Li Shengyao naturally knew the final box office of this movie, with an investment of 3 million, the global box office was [-] million. Even if the post-production disc income was included, "Rush Hour [-]" would definitely lose money.

Of course, Cheng Long is so excited at this time, there is no need to say it.

It's no good for him to tell the truth.

"I don't know, there should be many."

Cheng Long nodded, "When the movie is released, you must join in."

"When it comes to the premiere day, I will definitely go there."

Cheng Long nodded, seeing that there was not much tea in Li Shengyao's cup, he immediately got up and poured tea for Li Shengyao again.

"Stay here for dinner later, the cooking auntie here is very good, and her cooking skills are very good."

Li Shengyao nodded with a smile, and didn't ask Cheng Long why he invited him this time. Since Cheng Long didn't say anything, he naturally wouldn't ask.

An hour later, Li Shengyao and Cheng Long finished their meal. The cooking aunt of Cheng Long's family is really good at cooking. She just prepared a sumptuous dinner with nine dishes and one soup.

Cheng Long poured Li Shengyao tea again, and only then did he reveal the purpose of inviting Li Shengyao to his house this time.

"Director Li, has the production of "The Hangover" been completed?"

Li Shengyao nodded, "It's done, I plan to arrange a release at the end of September."

"That's good, Director Li, you just saw my brat, do you think he is suitable for acting?"

Li Shengyao understood what Cheng Long meant.

Prince Fang actually started acting and singing a few years ago. Of course, he is not a desperate Saburo, rather lazy, one or two plays a year.

This way he has enough time to play.

As for Prince Fang's ability, Li Shengyao felt that in terms of talent alone, he should be pretty good.

Of course it has nothing to do with him.

"Brother, what do you want me to do?"

"Director Li, I think this brat has become more lazy recently. He keeps running to Los Angeles. Help me, give him some work and make him busy."

Cheng Long continued: "Forget that I owe you a favor."

It's good to owe favors. In this case, Cheng Long should be more cooperative in filming "Taken 23" later.

Li Shengyao pretended to think about it, and then said slowly: "Brother, with your contacts, it should be easy to introduce him to a job, right?"

"This guy wants to be interesting. I can't introduce those. You have always been smarter than me, so I hope you can help me."

Li Shengyao then thought of his own variety shows, and he thought that perhaps he could arrange for Prince Fang to go to variety shows.

In the future, the crown prince will die and will not play, so it will be easier for him to be replaced.

"Brother, I have a few variety shows in China, I can give him a try, but in the end, whether it works or not, it's up to him."

……

Time flies, and half a month has passed by in a flash.

On August 3, 770, the world premiere of "Rush Hour [-]" opened in the beautiful country with [-] and [-] halls.

They also had a grand premiere for the film.

At the Huaxia Theater in Los Angeles, dozens of Hollywood stars and entertainers passed by that day, and many stars walked the red carpet, as if it was a film festival awards show.

Li Shengyao naturally followed, not only him, but also many Chinese in the beautiful country.

Cheng Long's complexion is very good this day, he is as happy and looking forward to it as a child celebrating the new year.

There are still blockbuster movies at this time, and the most powerful movie is "Bourne Shadow 3", which was released a week ago.

Two hours later, the premiere ceremony ended, and the Huaxia Theater applauded loudly. It sounded like everyone approved of the movie.

However, this is not the case. After the reporters and stars at the premiere left, word of mouth about "Rush Hour 3" slowly fermented.

The freshness of Rotten Tomatoes is only 20.00%, that is to say, only 100 out of [-] people think it looks good.

The rating of Yahoo Movies is C, which is just passing.

The IMDB score is [-] points, and the professional score is [-] points.

"A film without creativity, just changed the set of the first and second films, there is no difference."

"I hate clown jokes."

"Terrible choice, jaekie should understand that comedy like his is out of date."

"This should be the first and last time for ijaekie to take a share of the global box office. New Line must regret it now."

All kinds of low scores, bad reviews.

Under such circumstances, the movie earned $5000 million at the box office in the first three days, surpassing "The Bourne".

Looks like it turned out fine.

However, most professional people understand that with the reputation of this movie, the box office will not be very good.

The subsequent box office trend proves everyone's opinion.

In the end, "Rush Hour 3" won a box office of [-] million US dollars in the beautiful country.

In other countries and regions, it has won a box office of [-] million US dollars, and the global total box office is [-] million US dollars.

That number actually doesn't look bad.

It's just that compared to the cost, it really doesn't make money.

In fact, there is no poisonous point in the movie, and there are no major logical problems. It can only be said that Cheng Long's kung fu comedies are really no longer popular with European and American audiences.

With such a global box office, even if the post-production income is added, the film producer will inevitably lose money.

Although New Line did not announce the end of the "Rush Hour" series, when one of their executives was interviewed by reporters, he said indignantly: "He is not suitable for shooting high-cost blockbusters at all. My advice to latecomers is that he It is best to control the cost of the movie below 5000 million US dollars, and he must not take a share of the global box office."

"We made him miserable this time, and I can't imagine the future of New Line."

This "he" refers to Cheng Long.

Under such circumstances, Cheng Long was naturally in a very bad mood.

I originally wanted to follow "Rush Hour 3" to soar into the sky, but I didn't expect that it seemed to be revealed.

When Li Shengyao received the call and rushed to Cheng Long's villa again, there were already many martial artists gathered in the villa.

The scene was full of alcohol, and everyone, including Cheng, drank a lot.

Cheng Long didn't wear a tunic suit, but an ordinary T-shirt, a pair of exercise pants and a pair of slippers on his lower body.

His hair was no longer black and straight, but limp and stuck to his scalp.

At this moment, he is an ordinary uncle in his fifties, not the kung fu superstar Jaekie.

Li Shengyao pulled a chair and sat down opposite Cheng Long.

When Cheng Long saw Li Shengyao, embarrassment flashed in his eyes.

The people in the family-making class are all from their own family. They have seen his dejected appearance, but in front of Director Li, it seems that he has never been like this before.

He is a shameless person, so he got up immediately, "Director Li, sit down for a while, I'll take a shower."

Cheng Long hurried to take a bath.

Not long after, he came back from the shower, feeling much refreshed, but he still couldn't hide the disappointment, helplessness, and unwillingness in his eyes.

He sat down and poured Li Shengyao tea.

He opened his mouth, wanting to explain his state, but found that there seemed to be nothing to say.

He then wanted to talk about his views on "Rush Hour 3". He wanted to say that it wasn't that he couldn't do it, it was just bad luck.

"I……"

As soon as he said a word, he stopped.

As the media said, there is actually no problem with the quality of the movie, but it is too old-fashioned, and everyone is tired of watching it.

Thinking of this, Cheng Long couldn't help feeling even more disappointed.

Li Shengyao saw it, he naturally understood Cheng Long's mood.

But, there are some things that should be pointed out, so that Cheng Long will better cooperate with him in the filming of "Taken 23" in the future.

"Brother, what do you want to say?"

"Director Li, is my kung fu comedy really not working?"

The biggest problem with kung fu comedy is that it is very emotionally fragmented.

Many times, when it is obviously a life and death fight, it should be exciting, but kung fu comedy is funny at this time.

It was interesting to watch at the beginning, but after the new century, the pace of life is getting faster and faster, and European and American audiences are obviously pursuing more explosive and direct refreshments.

Kung fu comedy will naturally fail.

Mainland audiences have to wait for a few years, and Cheng Long will have two or three blockbuster movies in the future.

"In Europe and the United States, it's really not good. They like to watch "Mission: Impossible" or action movies like "The Bourne Shadow."

"Mission: Impossible" also has funny plots, but it is occasionally cold humor.

It won't be like Cheng Long's comedies, with a lot of funny scenes.

Cheng Long nodded, heaved a long sigh, and looked at the married martial arts master who was drinking next to him, with disappointment and reluctance in his eyes.

Li Shengyao said in a low voice: "Brother, we still have "Taken". Don't worry, you will come back soon."

Hearing this, Cheng Long stared at Li Shengyao in a daze, but did not answer.

"Taken" is the idea of ​​Director Li, and Kung Fu comedy is Cheng Long's own idea.

He has acted in kung fu comedies for almost 30 years, so he is naturally lost.

"Brother, as long as it can catch mice, no matter if it's a black cat or a white cat, it's a good cat. "Taken" can make money, and it can keep the family-making class busy. Isn't that enough?"

Li Shengyao continued: "Do you still remember what I said before, as long as you want, I still have a lot of scripts over there, enough for you to be popular for another ten years, big brother, you will be in your sixties in ten years, this is already There are very few achievements in the entertainment circle."

Li Shengyao can also write a lot of "rescue" movies, and the cost of these movies is not too high. Even if Cheng Long is given a maximum salary, the cost is only 5000 million US dollars at most, and the box office plus post-production income will definitely make it back.

Of course, Li Shengyao would not accompany Cheng Long to shoot, he didn't want to be bound with Cheng Long for the rest of his life.

After the filming of "Taken 23" and other rescue films, he wrote the script and paid part of the money for Cheng Long to make it himself.

Hearing this, Cheng Long came back to his senses, and then nodded, "Okay, I will make your movie next. The Hollywood group laughed at me for losing money and for not making any movies in the future. I want them to see it. If you can make money, you can be popular for another ten years.”

(End of this chapter)