China Entertainment's Standout

Chapter 1090 Superb Cast, One Battle to Godhood

The November film market became a one-man show for Venom.

Since its release, this Marvel superhero movie has grossed a total of 20.23 billion yuan.

It has firmly secured second place in the annual box office rankings for imported films.

Meanwhile, domestic films released at the same time depicted scenes of carnage and bloodshed, with no one able to stop it.

The highly anticipated Hong Kong blockbuster, "Iceman: The Time Traveler," turned out to be a complete flop.

"Brother Tang, didn't Yu Zhou Dan film a movie called Iceman a few years ago?"

"You have a really good memory."

Zhou Yutang nodded with a smile.

"Damn, I went to see it with my girlfriend at the movie theater."

The greyhound couldn't help but chirp resentfully:

"I ended up falling asleep the whole time, wasting tens of dollars of my money. I remember watching an old Hong Kong movie when I was a kid, where people from ancient times traveled to the modern era, and it was much better than this."

"You mean The Iceman Comedy?"

Janine Chang chimed in from the side, "It's Yuen Biao and Zhang Manyu's scene."

"Oh wow, Honey, I'm showing my age."

Zhang Ruojun wore that husky-like, cheeky grin again.

We've been together for over half a month since filming started, and we've gotten to know each other quite well.

I was quite busy the past few days, basically filming night scenes. But by the end of the month, after a few important shots were filmed, the crazy overtime work pace eased up a bit.

During breaks in filming, the crew often gathered together to chat, inevitably mentioning "Iceman," which has been generating a lot of promotional material lately.

"I'm already an old lady."

Zhang Junmi sighed in agreement, "I can't compare to you young people."

"No way, Honey, you look no more than twenty-five or twenty-six."

Zhang Ruojun can be sarcastic at times, but he has good emotional intelligence, which helps him make up for it.

In fact, Janine Chang is already 36 years old this year, only one year younger than Teacher Fan.

Perhaps it's because of proper skincare and regular exercise that her skin looks firm, smooth, and youthful.

Especially when she wears this flight attendant uniform, coupled with her long legs wrapped in black stockings, she is truly captivating.

Governor Zhou, who had taken his gaze away from his legs, chuckled and said, "That movie is actually quite interesting."

During the golden age of Hong Kong entertainment in the 1980s and 90s, a movie that traveled from ancient times to the modern era left a deep impression on the young Governor Zhou.

To be honest, their ideas are really wild.

Yuan Biao plays the villain Feng San, who unexpectedly travels from ancient times to the present. He's incredibly arrogant, even having the outlandish idea of ​​importing guns from the modern era and then traveling back to ancient times to dominate the world and build a harem.
The people in the Hong Kong entertainment circle are best at rehashing old material. A few years ago, they produced a movie called "Iceman: The Time Traveler," which claimed to have an investment of 200 million, but it flopped as soon as it was released.

Now they've come up with "Iceman: The Time Traveler," and just looking at the cast—Donnie Yen, Wang Baoqiang, Simon Yam, Huang Shengyi, and Jiang Shuying—it's incredibly luxurious. But it still couldn't escape the fate of being a flop.

The film grossed only 640 million yuan on its opening day and was met with widespread negative reviews as soon as it was released.

This is also a consequence of the previous work's failure to make money and its depletion of the audience's trust and expectations.

"It seems the production company and Universe Dan have gotten into a falling out."

"Oh, what do you say?"

"They say that Universe Dan interfered with the creative process, acted like a diva, and refused to cooperate with the roadshow and promotion."

"Haha, with box office numbers like this, is there even a need for a roadshow?"

Failures are commonplace in the film and television industry.

But since we'll inevitably run into each other again, we might exchange a few words behind each other's backs. However, it's best to maintain a respectable relationship most of the time, as there might be opportunities to make money together in the future.

This time, the production company lost everything and was furious, so they blamed Universe Dan.

Danny, who beat up Wolf Warrior back then, also has a bad temper.

He immediately posted on Weibo and retaliated, and now the two sides have fallen out and are still battling it out on Weibo.

In this way, the hype has been generated.

It certainly attracted a lot of attention, and the tortured kung fu kid breathed a sigh of relief.

However, this also completely destroyed the film's already dwindling reputation, leaving it with no chance of recovery.

Meanwhile, after holding a press conference for "The Bravest," Bona Film Group's Yu Jianlin began to vigorously market "The Monster Hunt," a film co-produced with Media Asia.

With a cast including Louis Koo, Mark Chao, Bea Hayden, and Bao Beier, only the hardworking Principal Koo could be considered a top-tier star.

However, the fact that it's touted as a blockbuster production with a budget of 180 million yuan, aiming to kick off the Lunar New Year season, has attracted considerable attention.

Before Chinese films could recover from the devastation caused by "Venom," another film, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," followed.

"Damn it! Is this ever going to end? Marvel Studios is making all the money!"

"What is La Peikang good for? He's not even as good as Zuo Shandiao, is he?"

"It seems to be scheduled for mid-December. Could it be another 'Venom' movie, which would completely dominate the Lunar New Year film season?"

"With the Grand Commander here, there's nothing to fear unless something unexpected happens."

"I have to say, the latest trailer for 'The Wandering Earth' is really high-quality."

"."

Industry insiders are remarking that superhero blockbusters are indeed a money-making machine in the film market.

Marvel has been laying the groundwork for ten years, and now it's time to reap the rewards.

However, while superhero blockbusters are attracting attention, a trailer for a series called "The Boys" has quietly appeared on Bilibili, an overseas video platform affiliated with the Jiangdong Group.

What if a dazzling superhero became corrupt and degenerate?

"out of control!"

"Kill!"

"Everything is possible!"

Several words, each with a scarlet gradient effect, appeared on the screen.

Immediately following, a handsome man with slicked-back hair and dazzling blond hair appeared, dressed in a magnificent suit identical to Superman's.

Amid cheers, it slowly descended from a height of 100 meters, a warm smile on its face.

But the next second, while he was still smiling warmly, a blinding laser beam suddenly shot out from his eyes.

Like a sharp blade sweeping across the square, the cheering crowd collapsed in large swaths, like straw being cut down!

It was as terrible as hell!

The initial trailer was only thirty seconds long.

With no superfluous dialogue, only intense sensory stimulation, it immediately aroused the audience's expectations.

This was a teaser first released on an external website. Within twelve hours, it garnered over 800 million views and 43 likes on YouTube, with the comments section filled with excited foreigners shouting "Wow!"

The unconventional "anti-superhero" concept attracted a large number of viewers with a rebellious mindset.

The news, which spread quickly back to China, caused a huge uproar.

"Holy crap, that's really strong and violent."

When will this drama air?

"I can't wait to see this show."

"."

Even the production crew was talking about it. Zhang Ruojun couldn't help but ask curiously, "Brother Tang, this show is amazing, when will it premiere?"

"It will most likely be placed after Aquaman."

"Damn, that means we'll have to wait until next year."

"It will be around next summer, to coincide with Aquaman."

Superhero blockbusters are like a sumptuous feast, extremely delicious.

But eating such a lavish meal a few times a year can get a bit tiresome.

Next year, Marvel will have the blockbuster "Avengers: Endgame," and with the marketing campaign for "Aquaman" going on, it's bound to be overwhelming.

By the time Aquaman finished his meal, audiences were beginning to develop a negative attitude towards superhero movies.

At that time, the "anti-superhero" setting of The Boys was like a breath of fresh air.

Based on this, by taking advantage of the situation and concentrating resources to promote it, we can achieve twice the result with half the effort and fully utilize the traffic.

How to resonate with market sentiment in the marketing of film and television projects is also a science.

"This has been a long wait."

Zhang Ruojun didn't think too much about it, muttering to himself, "Many netizens are telling you to just start pay-per-view, and I wholeheartedly agree."

Zhou Yutang shook his head and chuckled: "A membership is enough. Bilibili doesn't offer advanced on-demand viewing."

Speaking of advanced on-demand viewing, we have to mention Pony Ma, who is indeed a master of money-making ideas.

Previously, I wanted to use QQ coins instead of real money, but that was rejected. At the beginning of the year, I came up with another brilliant idea at the group meeting.

This refers to a new service model for video platforms to offer advanced on-demand viewing.

The so-called advanced on-demand viewing means that users pay extra on top of their VIP membership to unlock content from episodes that have not yet been broadcast.

The TV station protested vehemently and even reported the matter to the Consumer Association and relevant authorities.

To maximize profits, production companies nowadays can earn even more money from a TV series beyond its initial broadcast rights on television stations, through second and third rounds of broadcasts and distribution by local stations.

The bulk of their revenue comes from online streaming rights on video platforms and secondary distribution.

Therefore, a large-scale TV series that is broadcast normally is basically broadcast simultaneously on TV and online.

So here's the question: if video platforms implement advance payment and collect money in advance to broadcast the later episodes, who will still stay in front of the TV to watch the live broadcast?
This involved a power struggle among several parties, resulting in a lot of wrangling.

Tencent set a good precedent, and several other companies, including iQiyi and Youku, followed suit and are also testing the waters.

Just as the final season of "Snow in the Sky" was releasing extra episodes during the summer, the vice president of Tencent Pictures and Uncle Chen Rui from Bilibili jointly wrote to Governor Zhou, taking the opportunity to strongly promote this proposal.

If advanced on-demand viewing could have been enabled, coupled with the massive viewership of "Snow in the Sky" at the time, it would have undoubtedly generated a significant revenue stream for the platform. However, it was ultimately vetoed by Governor Zhou.

Viewers have already paid for memberships, so charging them again and bundling sales is rather unseemly.

Regardless of what other companies do, the Jiangdong faction will definitely not launch this initiative, so Zhou Yutang has done right by the audience.

It's somewhat surprising that the initial trailer for "The Boys" received a good response in China, but it was a huge hit abroad.

"Wow, my good bro, you probably don't know how popular Homelanders are abroad."

"Bob, I can use a VPN to access the internet."

Hearing Old Deng's long-lost voice, Zhou Yutang smiled slightly.

Old Deng went to Hong Kong a few days ago to pay his respects to Chow Wen-huai.

His family elders used to work alongside Chow Wen-huai in Hollywood and were very close friends.

However, the elder of the Bob family did not live that long; instead, the elder Bob led the family to greatness once again.

I went to pay my respects this time to thank Uncle Zou for introducing me to Zhou Yutang.

In recent years, the Grand Commander of Jiangdong has been stirring up trouble in North America and making a fortune. Bob, as the middleman, has also made a killing.

"You are the most amazing and incredible genius I have ever seen."

Bob Hardy has a thick skin; he can just throw out these embarrassing compliments without batting an eye.

"Stop talking nonsense."

"Ok."

Old Bob shrugged dismissively and reported to Zhou Yutang on the overseas promotion of "The Wandering Earth" and the progress of the "Conjuring" series project.

When the topic turned to his professional field, Old Deng instantly became serious, and all his previous arrogance vanished.

China's first hard science fiction film, "The Wandering Earth," has garnered far more attention overseas than expected.

While foreigners might not recognize Chinese actors like Wu Jing due to face blindness, the super-luxurious supporting cast of Phoenix Boy, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, and Nicole Kidman is already eye-catching enough.

With the legendary, mysterious Eastern tycoon personally directing the project, it's bound to generate plenty of buzz.

At that time, the champion of palace intrigue dared to sign contracts that even Li Hongzhang dared not sign in order to curry favor with him.

Warner Bros. will be responsible for the overseas promotion and distribution of "The Wandering Earth," and has promised that the scale of the promotion will be no less than that of a Hollywood A-list project.

As for the Conjuring series, it is currently the highest-grossing horror film series. This type of film is completely within James Wan's comfort zone.

Zhou Yutang didn't interfere much, giving him enough trust to let him play freely.

After finishing the business, Chen Duling quickly jotted down the important points. Suddenly, she noticed that the serious old man in the video was starting to become lewd again, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes.

“Zhou, the Oscars PR season is just around the corner. There will be plenty of private parties that you absolutely shouldn’t miss.”

"Take it easy, better safe than sorry."

"Okay, I'll pay attention."

Old Deng probably couldn't understand why Governor Zhou, who was so cautious despite his great strength.

It possesses immense power and unparalleled status, with everything one could desire.

More importantly, he is so young.

At the peak of his energy and vitality, he should have been a real-life Homelander, yet he was still able to maintain such composure, which is truly exceptional.

The trailer for "The Wandering Earth" has attracted a lot of attention on foreign websites, and discussions about the rise of Chinese science fiction have begun to flood social media.

Meanwhile, another highly anticipated domestic sci-fi film, "The Fortress of Shanghai," is also in the final stages of production, having been working frantically for some time.

China Film Group held a special press conference, with La Peikang in attendance, making it a very grand affair.

Teng Wentao, a well-known director from Beijing's entertainment circle, and Wu Yifan, a top young actor, both looked quite professional in the face of the flashing cameras.

Everyone knows that this film, from the moment it was conceived, was intended to be a direct competitor to Jiang Dong's "The Wandering Earth".

You adapt Liu Cixin's original work, I'm a blockbuster in Jiangnan; you have the rising star of Jiangdong, I have a renowned director with profound experience in the Beijing film circle.

With Shanghai Film Group co-producing the film and China Film Group making a triumphant return, coupled with Wu Yifan's showdown with Lu Han, the film naturally garnered a lot of attention.

Zhou Yutang heard the commotion while on set, and casually checked the film and television news on Toutiao.
"The epic sci-fi blockbuster 'The Magic City Fortress,' with an investment of 3.6 million yuan, held a media launch event in Beijing today."

"According to the production company, the film will be released during the Spring Festival. Audiences are in for a treat!"

Wu Yifan was confident, claiming that China's first science fiction film would definitely not disappoint everyone!

Director Teng Wentao talked about his filming experience, mentioning that there were over 1800 special effects shots in post-production, and that the workload was beyond imagination!

"."

Seemingly unwilling to see "The Wandering Earth" stand out alone, "The Magic Fortress" has also sprung up.

After being ridiculed online for his initial attempt to provoke the Grand Commander of Jiangdong, Teng Wentao has become much more restrained and is now behaving himself.

However, while they may verbally agree, they may not truly be convinced.

After all, Zhou Yutang was still a student when he became famous.

If he can rise to power by stepping on Governor Zhou, it will be the most glorious crowning achievement of his directing career.

That was the true path to godhood in a single battle!
(End of this chapter)