It's reasonable for me, a stuntman, to live a crazy life, right?

Chapter 1442 Film Investment Scam! "Baking" the Major Investors...

Breaking news! Feiyue Films and Happy Twist have teamed up again! The new comedy film "Claw Machine" has been officially approved, with Yan Fei and Peng Damo personally directing.

"Plot Revealed for 'Claw Machine': Shen Teng and Ma Li to Play a Couple Raising a Claw Machine, with Hidden Secrets Behind Their Fate-Defying Adventure..."

"My youth is back! Shen Teng and Ma Li return to the big screen after 9 years. 'Claw Machine' continues the comedy legend of 'Xihong City.' Stay tuned!"

"..."

With the official announcement of the collaboration between Feiyue Films and Happy Twist to produce "Claw Machine," the comedy genre in the film and television industry instantly became lively.

In today's film market, the once-golden brand of "Shen Teng's filmography" has seen a slight decline in value due to the fluctuating reputation of some of Shen Teng's recent works.

However, it is undeniable that as long as Shen Teng's comedies are mentioned, a large number of viewers are still willing to go to the cinema.

His innate sense of humor and widespread popularity remain important guarantees for box office success.

However, if we add Ma Li to this, the effect will definitely be "1+1 is much greater than 2"!
From Xia Luo and Ma Dongmei in "Goodbye Mr. Loser" to Wang Duoyu and Xia Zhu in "Hello Mr. Billionaire", this pair has long been the benchmark of "comedy CP" in the hearts of the audience.

Their seamless interaction and natural comedic tension always manage to hit the audience's funny bone, while also conveying a warm emotional core beyond humor.

Now, nine years later, the two are teaming up again to star in "Claw Machine".

The topic of "Shen Teng and Ma Li's return" alone is enough to make the audience's anticipation reach its peak!
Looking around, social media platforms are filled with cries of "waiting for the release" and "my youth is back!"

Many netizens have even started predicting how many billions the film will gross.

Not to mention that "Claw Machine" has two major "trump cards" supporting it.

As a leading team in the domestic comedy field, Happy Twist has mature experience in script polishing and controlling the rhythm of comedy.

In recent years, Feiyue Films has demonstrated its accurate judgment of market demand and its strong production and distribution capabilities by producing a number of high-quality and box office hits.

The joint production of the two is like giving "Claw Machine" double insurance, ensuring both the quality of the comedy and the potential for high box office returns.

Driven by "Claw Machine," comedy films, a previously somewhat dormant genre, have once again become the focus of attention for investors in the industry.

Within just a few days, several comedy projects have emerged.

There is a book called "The Last Money," which focuses on the "midlife crisis" and tells a series of absurd stories that occur after an ordinary office worker unexpectedly acquires a huge fortune.

There's also "Good Things," which focuses on "street humor" and revolves around a mysterious antique, attempting to replicate the multi-narrative comedy style of "Crazy Stone."

These projects not only quickly finalized their creative teams, but also began intensively contacting comedians, clearly aiming to capitalize on the comedy craze sparked by "Claw Machine" and grab a share of the market.

An industry professional analyzed that: "The reason why the launch of 'Claw Machine' has caused such a big stir is essentially because it has hit the market's 'basic needs'."

Audiences need high-quality comedies to relieve stress, and the combination of Shen Teng and Ma Li with two strong production companies gives investors and audiences enough confidence.

Next, we'll likely see a surge in comedy projects being launched, but those that ultimately stand out will rely on solid scripts and unique comedic expression. After all, audiences won't buy into 'copycat' productions.

Meanwhile, the teams from both Feiyue Films and Happy Twist had already begun preparations for "Claw Machine".

From minor adjustments to the script to the selection of filming locations, every step is progressing in an orderly manner.

For Feiyue Films, Chen Fei sent Zhong Lifang, who didn't have any extra projects at the moment, to follow up.

If time allows, he wants the film to be released during the summer holiday season.

When comedy meets the joy of summer vacation, it's a perfect match!

……

On January 12, the 2nd China TV Drama Annual Ceremony, hosted by China Media Group, was held as scheduled.

This grand event, hailed as a "trendsetter in the television drama industry," brought together outstanding dramas and actors from the past year.

Ultimately, "Blossoms Shanghai," directed by Wang Jiawei, unsurprisingly won the "Best Drama of the Year" award.

This drama series, adapted from Jin Yucheng's novel of the same name, has garnered high praise and popularity since its premiere thanks to its delicate cinematography, rich historical atmosphere, and profound character portrayals. Winning this award is well-deserved.

In the acting awards, Hu Ge and Zhang Songwen jointly won the "Actor of the Year" award.
The two of them absolutely deserved their awards!

Hu Ge's portrayal of "A Bao" in "Blossoms Shanghai" is nuanced, showcasing the character's transformation from a naive young man to a business tycoon, and perfectly capturing both his ambition and vulnerability.

Zhang Songwen, with his textbook-level acting skills in the role of "Gao Qiqiang" in "The Storm", showed the audience the complexity and three-dimensionality of the villainous character.

Even though the series has been airing for a long time, the popularity of "Gao Qiqiang" has not faded.

However, compared to the unanimous recognition of male actor awards, female actor awards have sparked considerable controversy.

Ma Yili won the "Actress of the Year" award for her role as "Luo Zijun" in "The First Half of My Life 2," while Reyizha won the award for her role as "Li Shuihua" in "Love of Mountains and Seas."

However, some fans believe that Xin Zhilei and Tang Yan, who were also in the same period of "Blossoms Shanghai", gave equally excellent performances, but unfortunately did not make the list.

Some viewers also felt that Reyizha's award-winning work was not a new drama from that year, and therefore the award lacked credibility.

However, these controversies ultimately remained only among fans.

After all, the award has already been officially presented, so it's impossible to take it back, right?
As the grand ceremony came to a close, the discussions gradually subsided.

The night passed, and it was February 13th.

On this day, "Blossoms" officially came to an end!

This series has achieved many remarkable results since its premiere.

On its first day of broadcast, it broke the viewership record for the first time of a drama series on CCTV-8 in the past five years, and the viewership continued to exceed 2, with the peak exceeding 3.5.

The video has garnered over 50 billion views on online platforms, and related topics have accumulated over 200 billion reads.

After its overseas broadcast, the series sparked a "Shanghai fever" in many countries, with many foreign viewers even saying they gained insight into the bustling changes of Shanghai in the 90s through the drama. Although Chen Fei harbored little affection for Wang Jiawei due to past collaborations,
However, after watching "Blossoms Shanghai," one has to admit that the show is a masterpiece in terms of costumes, props, cinematography, acting, and pacing, deserving of the title of "Best Drama of the Year."

Time flies, and January 14th has arrived. The 2023 TVB Anniversary Awards Ceremony was held in Macau as scheduled.

This grand event for Hong Kong drama fans was equally full of highlights.

Charmaine Sheh won three awards for her role as "Man Wai-sum" in "News Queen": "Best Actress", "Most Popular TV Female Character" and "Malaysia's Favorite TVB Actress", making her the biggest winner of the night.

Moses Chan won the "Best Actor" award for his role as a narcotics police officer in "Drug Breaker".

"News Queen" swept eight awards, including "Best Drama Series," "Best Director," and "Best Screenplay," becoming the biggest dark horse of this year's awards ceremony.

Chen Fei watched a few episodes of this series during his spare time while filming "The Three-Body Problem".

The plot mainly revolves around the power struggle within Hong Kong news channels.

Charmaine Sheh plays "Man Wai-sum," a top news anchor who is both dedicated to the truth of the news and adept at navigating the complexities of the workplace. She engages in fierce competition for a position with "Leung King-yan," played by Kenneth Ma.

The drama not only features tense and exciting workplace battles, but also incorporates discussions on journalistic ethics and media responsibility, with a fast pace and sharp dialogue.

Undeniably, Charmaine Sheh's performance in the film was truly outstanding!
Whether it's her calm counterattacks against opponents or her unwavering gaze when upholding journalistic ideals, she perfectly embodies the multifaceted nature of the character "Wen Huixin," making her award well-deserved.

For a time, the Hong Kong film and television industry, after a long period of silence, showed signs of revival.

However, before these award ceremonies could remain trending on social media for more than a few days, a joint announcement issued by the LZ Municipal People's Procuratorate and Public Security Bureau on January 16th instantly attracted widespread attention online.

The notice states: Starting today, we will officially solicit clues about the "8.17" film and television investment fraud case!
The case involves two films: "I'm Livin' It" starring Aaron Kwok and Miriam Yeung, and "Rogue Lover" starring Shu Qi.

According to the announcement, the suspects used the promise of high returns from investing in film and television projects as bait, forged cooperation agreements with two major film production teams, and raised funds from the public. They claimed that an investment of 100,000 yuan could yield a 200,000 yuan share of the film's box office revenue, and defrauded nearly 100 investors of a total of over 50 million yuan.

Currently, some suspects have been apprehended, but some of the funds involved in the case have not yet been recovered. Therefore, we urge the relevant victims to report the case to the police as soon as possible.

This news immediately caused a stir in the film and television industry!
While film and television investment fraud cases have occurred from time to time in recent years, this is the first time that a project involving well-known actors such as Aaron Kwok and Shu Qi has been involved.

Many netizens lamented that even movies starring big stars can be fraudulent, and that one really needs to be careful when investing in film and television.

Riding on this wave of popularity, "All or Nothing," a film dealing with the theme of "fraud," has ironically become a beneficiary.

Not only did the box office successfully surpass 20 billion, but it is even charging toward 30 billion!
Meanwhile, the announcement of the "8.17" film and television investment fraud case quickly caused a huge uproar in the film and television industry and the investment field.

Many film and television companies immediately issued internal risk warnings, reminding employees to be wary of scams involving high-return film and television investments.

Some industry associations have even partnered with law firms to release a guide to avoid pitfalls in film and television investment, which breaks down common scams in detail.

From fake celebrity autographed cooperation agreements to Photoshopped fake box office data, and then to traps using "crowdfunding investment" and "share transfer" as gimmicks, we will explain each one in detail to prevent more people from being deceived.

For ordinary viewers, this case also shattered the misconception that movies starring big stars are reliable.

On social media platforms, topics such as #How to avoid film and television investment scams# and #Beware of investment traps under the influence of celebrities# quickly became trending topics.

Many netizens even shared their own or their acquaintances' experiences of "falling into traps":
"Sigh, it's really unlucky. I was attracted by the crowdfunding topic for a movie starring a popular celebrity, but after investing tens of thousands of yuan, I found out that the project didn't exist at all."

"I bought a share of the film's copyright, but all I received in the end was an invalid contract."

"I advise everyone that film and television investment is a very risky business. Without professional knowledge and reliable channels, you must not blindly follow the trend."

The studios of Aaron Kwok, Shu Qi, and Miriam Yeung also issued statements immediately, clarifying that the artists only participated in the filming and never authorized any organization or individual to raise funds in the name of "film and television investment".

The public is reminded not to believe rumors and to protect their rights through legal channels when necessary!

The statement also mentioned that they have contacted the police about the matter and will actively cooperate with the investigation to hold the fraudsters legally accountable.

After all, these kinds of fraud cases not only harm investors' interests, but also have a negative impact on the reputation of celebrities.

For example, previously, some celebrities suffered a significant drop in public favorability after being associated with fake investment projects.

Meanwhile, as more details of the case are revealed, more industry problems are also coming to light.

Industry insiders revealed that some fraud gangs are able to succeed easily by exploiting the lack of transparency in film and television projects.

Ordinary investors find it difficult to verify the authenticity of projects and can only judge them by the celebrity lineup and promotional materials, which gives scammers an opportunity to take advantage of them.

Therefore, many people have begun to call for the establishment of a film and television project filing and disclosure platform to make public information such as project qualifications, investment channels, and fund flows, so as to curb fraud from the source.

In response, Feiyue Films, led by Chen Fei, joined forces with Wanda, Enlight Media, Xi'an Film Studio, and others to respond to the call immediately.

They didn't have any requirement to "launder money" through movies, so they're open about it; it's no big deal.

However, this response immediately gave many unscrupulous investors a headache.

public?

How can it be made public?

Isn't this tantamount to openly submitting evidence of their crimes? How could they possibly do such a thing voluntarily?
While the entire internet was focused on film and television investment fraud cases, the "Three-Body Problem" production team continued to advance filming in an orderly manner.

On January 17th, the crew entered a crucial filming phase for the "Guzheng Operation" scene.

To recreate the stunning scene from the novel where the Judgment Day is cut down with nanoblades, the production team not only built a 1:1 model of the Judgment Day, but also used a combination of real-life shooting and CG special effects. The pre-production preparation alone took three months.

On the day of filming, Chen Fei personally oversaw the scene, and all the main actors were present.

When the "nano-blade" was activated, the model ship's hull was slowly "cut" into pieces, and the staff on site couldn't help but exclaim in amazement!

Chen Fei stared at the monitor, repeatedly adjusting the camera angle, striving to accurately capture the science fiction feel of the novel in every frame...

(End of this chapter)