The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 624 Missed
February 2th, Valentine's Day.

The box office data of movies that have been released in the past few days have been released one after another.

Leading the way was "101 Marriage Proposals", which grossed 1484 million on the first day and 1569 million on the second day, for a total of 3053 million over the two days.

The results are not outstanding, but compared with its production cost of more than 2000 million, the performance is still remarkable.

Then there is "Together", Zhen Zidan's transitional work.

The performance of this movie surprised the industry, and some even suspected that the theaters' statistics were wrong.

On the first day of its release, the box office reached 6.69, and on the second day it earned 6.63. The cumulative total for two days was an astonishing achievement of 13.3.

The film stars Zhen Zidan and Yang Ying.

As soon as the selection of the Four Little Flowers was over, Yang Ying became the focus of public opinion with her "impressive" box office record, and her popularity instantly reached the top!
The media never mind joining in the fun. Such a good topic, how can they fall behind?

Fire at Zhen Zidan first.

"The romantic film "Together", starring Kung Fu superstar Zhen Zidan and rising star Yang Ying, has grossed 13 yuan in two days since its release!!"

"If she leaves the field of action movies, Zhen Zidan's appeal is almost zero, so blind transformation is a bad idea."

Then he attacked Yang Ying viciously.

"Including Yang Ying in the list of the Four Little Flower Dans is undoubtedly a great insult to this honor."

"Fuck you, if Nanhui can't choose, then don't choose. What the hell are you choosing? Even if you choose Wang Luodan or Huang Shengyi, I will accept it. But you chose a box office poison."

"."

Faced with the sarcasm of the media and the ridicule of netizens.

The two groups of fans refused to give in and argued with each other. Some fans of other groups even went undercover to sow discord, making the scene extremely chaotic.

Huashao Nantong: "The problem with the movie is not with Zi Dan. The main reasons are the poor promotion of the film, the bad script and the poor acting of the leading actress. Dan only acted in it to repay a favor."

Nao Taitao: "I read the fortune for the leader. His horoscope shows that he is a typical famous person in numerology, so he can become a top star in the mainland entertainment industry. However, he is doomed to have bad luck with romance. No matter now or in the future, the women he meets will not be nice to him."

Mi Tao: "Some people just feel unbalanced. My sister is ranked second among the four young actresses. Do you think it's easy? She has fought for it bit by bit with her own efforts and sweat."

Guess who I sent this secret letter to: "What a bad movie! I'm so happy! They said they wanted to make The Great Wu Dang a huge hit. It's not bad to be in even a fraction of The Great Wu Dang! Wahaha!"

"."

Following closely behind, the first day box office data of "Seattle" was announced, 1786 million.

The industry was quiet for a moment.

How is this result? It is higher than "101 Marriage Proposals", but not much better.

If this trend continues, the final box office is estimated to be around 2 million.

With a cost of 3000 million and a box office of million, to be fair, it made money, but everyone's expectations were very high.

You should know that the producer of this film is Lu Yuan, who is the record holder for the highest domestic box office and the creator of two billion-level box office films.

The previous movie he invested in, "Lost in Thailand", set a precedent for domestic films to break the 1 billion box office, becoming a legend in the industry.

The box office on the first day was only 1786 million, and there was no potential for it to be a dark horse. It was far from "Lost in Thailand" and seriously inconsistent with everyone's expectations.

Those colleagues who have been quietly paying attention to the box office results can't help but feel doubtful.

Did Lu Yuan fail?

Or is it that, because he is not the lead actor in this movie, its appeal to the audience is not as strong as everyone imagines?
Based on this first-day box office performance, some media began to criticize the so-called "Star Plan" and questioned Lu Yuan's investment vision.

Same day.

Pony.com held a press conference in Beijing.

The famous international Chinese director Wu Yusen announced to reporters that "The Crossing" will start shooting in June.

Investing 4 million yuan to create a Chinese version of "Titanic".

Cast: Zhang Ziyi, Huang Xiaoming, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tong Dawei, Song Hye Kyo, Nagasawa Masami.
Target box office: 20 billion!!

As the news came out, it immediately caused a sensation.

There have been rumors about this project since 08, but after five years of delays, it is finally going to start.

The producers of "The Crossing" include but are not limited to Pony.com, iQiyi, and China Film Group.
At the press conference, Pony.com CEO Li Ming, iQiyi Chief Content Officer Ma Dong and Wu Yusen stood in a row.

The reporter asked: "Director Wu, why did you choose to shoot this movie instead of the gangster themes that you are good at?"

Wu Yusen smiled confidently: "The Chinese film market is very good, many films sell well, and there are many excellent talents, but there is a problem with Chinese films, that is, they follow the trend too much, and almost everyone is making the same type of films.

When a comedy sells well, some film companies will abandon their planned films and make comedies instead. When romance films make money, they rush to make romance films. The same is true for film and television investors. If they make money from the previous romance film, they will invest in a similar theme for the next one.

Too short-sighted, too unambitious, too money-oriented.
I think this is not a good thing. Whether you are a director or an investor, you need to pursue something and break through yourself. There is no end to making money. Although I made a few gangster movies in my early years, I am not incapable of other themes."

The reporter felt that he seemed to have something else to say, but couldn't grasp the key point for a moment.

He suppressed his suspicion and continued to ask, "It is said that you have approached Lu Yuan for the male lead of this play."

Wu Yusen frowned and answered truthfully, "At the end of last year, he was filming Partners in New York. Director Chen Kexin is my long-time friend. I talked to Lu Yuan during the visit, but unfortunately, his schedule was not suitable. Huang Xiaoming happened to be there. Later I found that Huang Xiaoming might be more suitable for this role than him."

The reporters were all very sharp-minded people, and it was not difficult to catch a hint of obvious dissatisfaction from the other party's words.

Combined with what the other party said before, following the trend, romantic films, investors are not enterprising, only investing in similar themes, short-sighted, money first.
He realized that there must be some unknown conflict between the two of them.

Wow, one is an internationally renowned director, and the other is the top box office star in mainland China, amazing! !
The fire of gossip was burning in his heart. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and a plan came to his mind. He asked tentatively: "Have you heard about the movie "Beijing Meets Seattle" invested by Lu Yuan? The box office on the first day was only about 1700 million. Compared with "Lost in Thailand", it is not that outstanding."

Wu Yusen glanced at the reporter. He was not a fool. This man was clearly trying to cause trouble.

Although he was dissatisfied with Lu Yuan's refusal to act in "The Crossing", thinking that it was a sign of blindness, his tone just now was also secretly sarcastic.

But it doesn't mean that he wants to break up with the other party, otherwise he would have directly named him.

It wouldn't matter if he offended an ordinary person. As an international director, he wouldn't care at all. But Lu Yuan has many labels, not just an actor.

Wu Yusen wanted to replace the next reporter.

Ma Dong, the representative of iQiyi, suddenly stepped forward and revealed the news with a smile under the surprised gaze of Big Dog Brother Li Ming.

"My journalist friend, Director Wu actually approached Mr. Lu about the project of The Crossing, but Mr. Lu refused for some reason, so iQiyi took over."

Ma Dong graduated from Beijing Film Academy and worked as a host at Hunan Satellite TV and CCTV, and also served as the producer of several programs.

In addition, he was also the director of the language programs at the 2009 CCTV Spring Festival Gala.

This person was poached by iQiyi and appointed as Chief Content Officer.

On behalf of iQiyi, he is fully responsible for the investment and subsequent production of "The Crossing".

As for why I mentioned it more, it was naturally at Gong Yu's instruction.

Gong Yu was very satisfied with having snatched "The Crossing" from Lu Yuan, and wanted to show off.

Wu Yusen pursed his lips. In fact, Lu Yuan's reason for refusal was quite tactful. It was just lack of funds.

He remembered that Lu Yuan felt quite regretful at that time.

But since the people from iQiyi said so, there was no need for him to correct them.

After Ma Dong finished speaking, the reporters below became extremely excited.

He seemed to have said nothing, but he also seemed to have said a lot.

“Crack, click, click!!”

"Five years later, following the epic Red Cliff, director Rainie Wu returns with his new film The Crossing, which will create a Chinese version of Titanic."

"The Crossing, starring Zhang Ziyi, Huang Xiaoming and Takeshi Kaneshiro, will start filming in June."

"Due to schedule conflicts, Lu Yuan missed out on the lead role in The Crossing and missed the chance to dance with the master."

"IQIYI's Ma Dong revealed that Lu Yuan had refused to invest in The Crossing, and the reason behind this is very intriguing."

"Seattle's first-day box office was 1786 million, but it may not be able to replicate the box office success of Lost in Thailand."

"."

While the outside world was in turmoil, Lu Yuan was busy giving red envelopes to his employees.

The film and television industry resumed work early after the New Year, and Yuanfang Media officially started work on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.

On the morning of Valentine's Day, the interior of the China World Trade Center was decorated with festive atmosphere.

Red couplets, red lanterns, and speakers playing "Good Luck Comes".
"Good luck, good luck to you!"

Lu Yuan was wearing a bright red coat and standing at the door of the office with a smile on his face. Hundreds of heavy red envelopes were placed on the table in front of him.

Wait for the employees to come closer, distribute them one by one, and say "Happy New Year" to them.

"Happy New Year, boss!"

"Happy New Year. Wow, I haven't seen you for a few days. You've changed your hairstyle to a fashionable one. Not bad. Go play a cameo role in a drama tomorrow. Maybe you'll become a big star."

"Hahaha."

"Thank you, boss. I went home for the New Year and met someone who is your fan. Can we take a photo together later?"

"Okay, okay. Congratulations. Remember to let us know when you get married."

"."

Yuanfang Media has a total of 197 employees, and Lu Yuan took nearly an hour to send out red envelopes.

The 103 employees of the game studio were distributed by Zhou Mingyuan.

As for Shanghai, among the 1058 employees of PPS, Xu Weifeng and Lu Jing were responsible for distributing red envelopes.

The relationship between Lu Yuan and PPS is not convenient to be announced to the public at the moment.

He left the Sijiu Entertainment Agency to Liu Shishi and Jiang Qiuyun to handle on their own and he would not interfere too much.

By this calculation, the number of employees under him has unknowingly reached nearly 1400.

After the red envelopes were distributed, the employees returned to their respective jobs.

When Lu Yuan walked into the conference room, Zhang Bowen, Wu Lang, Chen Zhixi and others had all taken their seats.

Seeing that they were about to stand up, Lu Yuan raised his hand slightly and pressed it in the air: "Sit down, and get down to business."

Zhang Bowen tapped on the laptop keyboard, and the large screen in the conference room immediately displayed the data analysis of "Seattle" on social platforms such as Weibo and Douban.

"The above is the current status of Seattle on Weibo, Douban and other platforms. Since the preview, topics such as mistresses, keeping mistresses, giving birth in the United States, and homosexuality have been fermenting on the Internet.

As the movie was officially released yesterday, the number of topics has risen sharply, with female users accounting for as high as 89%. According to the current popularity analysis, Valentine's Day will usher in a small peak in the box office today."

Lu Yuan looked up.

The outside media are discussing that the first-day box office of "Seattle" was not impressive enough. It was also invested with 30 million yuan, but it was not as good as "Lost in Thailand".

There were many speculations, saying that he failed this time, blah blah blah.

In fact, there is no comparison between the two.

His involvement in this drama is minimal, unlike Lost in Thailand, where he was one of the lead actors.

From the start of filming to the release of "Seattle", he only appeared twice, on the start day and at the premiere.

Even though he invested in the film and was listed as the producer.

However, during the promotion period, the crew did not make him the focus of marketing, and Zhang Bowen and others even consciously weakened the film's connection with him.

After all, using Lu Yuan as a marketing point would be an overdraft of the audience's trust if the box office does not perform well.

There are many films invested in the Qunxing Project, and it is impossible to rely on Lu Yuan for promotion of each one.

If any work receives bad reputation, it will cause great damage to his personal brand.

Therefore, the lukewarm box office performance of "Seattle" on the first day was expected by everyone.

This movie does not follow the traditional route. Under the shell of a romance film, it reflects many social realities.

In Zhang Bowen's plan, the box office explosion of "Seattle" will come from the accumulation of word-of-mouth rather than the accumulation of publicity.

Elements such as mistresses, keeping mistresses, going to the United States to give birth to children, and lesbianism are relatively blank on Chinese movie screens.

Very topical.

Lu Yuan chose this script because of its similarities with "Dwelling Narrowness". Both reveal reality, but each has its own characteristics.

Due to the limitations of narrative length and capacity, the analysis of these phenomena in "Seattle" is brief and not too sharp.

These sensitive and topical social phenomena are actually gimmicks carefully designed by Xue Xiaolu for the male and female protagonists to attract the audience's attention.

They have no substantive discussion meaning, but are more of a potential marketing tool.

In terms of the cast, there is no doubt about the professional abilities of Wang Jinsong and Hai Qing.

And Tang Wei’s joining is the key.

Since "Lust, Caution", Tang Wei has been surrounded by controversy. Some people sympathize with her experience, while others are dismissive of her behavior.

In the relatively conservative mainland market, Tang Wei's way of taking shortcuts to fame seems particularly bold and difficult to accept.

It just so happens that "Seattle" takes social topics as its entry point, and mistress is also a shortcut.

This coincides with the topic about the "literary goddess" Tang Wei.

It's full of gimmicks and perfect for the occasion.

The controversy surrounding Tang Wei, coupled with the social phenomena revealed by this drama, can easily create a 1+1>2 effect.

In the conference room, Zhang Bowen gave further analysis.

"The topic about Tang Wei playing the mistress is currently the hottest topic. A group of people are targeting the director to whitewash the mistress, and a large number of netizens who are unaware of the situation are being swept along.

If this trend continues, it is very likely to trigger a viral effect, which will then evolve into an in-depth discussion of social topics. This will further drive box office growth and achieve our ultimate goal.”

(End of this chapter)