China Entertainment: I have been a director since 05

【4574 words】

The arrangement for Liu Yan was indeed the best choice Guan Ling could have thought of.

First of all, Liu Yan's figure determines that it is difficult for her to transform, and it is very likely that she will just play a supporting role.

She is so recognizable that her popularity and the bottleneck she faces are the irreversible industry ecology.

Her sex symbol made her famous with "The Shallows" and became a goddess for otakus. Her best choice was to gain a lot of exposure in variety shows and commercial activities at the time.

But she also wanted to make further progress in the film and television industry at the time, so she didn't put too much effort into it.

Now I know the limitations.

Therefore, Guan Ling decided to let her play a role in the sinking market that is close to the people and sexy, and then take advantage of the national affinity and go directly into business.

After acquiring ByteDance’s shares, Liu Yan will become the first popular actor to join the short video industry.

The reputation of a Hollywood ballerina sounds good.

However, stereotyped roles will eventually backfire, and the stereotyped impression will make it difficult for mainstream film and television projects to arrange heroine roles with complex acting skills for her.

Due to certain limiting factors, the heroine narrative in the domestic film and television market often requires "de-sexualization", the most typical example being Fan Bingbing's Tang Dynasty photo booth incident. Liu Yan's physical characteristics are both an advantage and a point of conflict.

In this respect, she is far inferior to Yau Shu-chen in the Hong Kong film industry.

In this middle ground between commerciality and artistry, Liu Yan does lack clear irreplaceability.

Her performance in "Dream of Red Mansions" was originally intended to allow her to transform, but the effect was mediocre. Playing a supporting role for Liu Yifei is not a disadvantage for her, but it also makes it a bit unrealistic to have a drama starring her as the heroine.

Her die-hard fan.

Most of them are passers-by who don't spend a penny and just watch her Ma Ma's audience friends.

But there is a lack of fan economy dividends in the absolute sense.

In fact, Liu Yan is a bit like Xu Qing.

It's a waste of time to have extraordinary powers, but there's no way to transform them into effective and useful content.

Xu Qing has the looming 36 mountains, but after so many years of debut, she has indeed been a lot of pendants.

When she was young, she played the leading female role in several dramas, but her acting skills were there. It was obvious that Liu Yan wanted to transform and play a role like the ancient "Empress Xiaozhuang", which she definitely could not play.

So Guan Ling was planning to let her sink a little and become a bridge between Hollywood and ordinary Chinese people.

A bridge built on two huge piers.

But you can only see the outside, not the inside.

Director Guan just needs to look inside himself.

After Liu Yan finished her arrangements, Guan Ling was finally able to have a good rest.

It is said that thirty is like a wolf and forty is like a tiger.

Director Guan has been feeling a little tired both physically and mentally lately.

Guan Ling sometimes thinks that the advertisement for Shenbao tablets does make sense.
Although Director Guan is now as strong as a dragon and has never been involved in science and technology, he can't resist the short time he has spent with others.

After this series of activities with so many people, I naturally felt a little tired.

This is often the case. No matter when or what happens, after a series of climaxes, it is natural to become sluggish.

The waxing and waning of the moon is a natural law.

The Chinese-language film industry's Lunar New Year blockbuster movies are gradually reaching their climax.

The Lunar New Year box office is always a battleground.

Generally speaking, the most valuable Lunar New Year period has always been divided into two groups.

The first half of course refers to the period from late November to early December to the end of the New Year holiday, which lasts about a month and is characterized by being short but explosive.
Domestic films are dominant, and most of the important box office records in the domestic film market were created here.

The first half of this year's Lunar New Year box office was even more chaotic and chaotic, which was unprecedented.

Due to the release of movies such as "Life of Pi" and "Extreme Job", the 2012 to 2013 Lunar New Year holiday season arrived early, and the earliest Lunar New Year holiday season battle officially began.

The final box office of "Life of Pi" was fixed at 6 million, which made Ang Lee's face burst with smiles.

With the final box office of "Extreme Job" set at 11 billion, the entire entertainment industry was shocked.

But in reality, it was only the end of December before the film was taken off the screen.

The performances of "1942" and "The Banquet" were quite poor. In the eyes of the entire cinema chain and even the audience, they were supposed to be the biggest promoters of the hand-to-hand combat after the opening battle, but unexpectedly, they were suppressed by the two films of the opening battle and could not even raise their heads.

This made the hand-to-hand combat seem a bit like an adult beating a child.

In the end, it looks like "1942" will be lucky enough to take in 300 million.

"The Feast of Kings" even extended Lu Chuan's ten years of misfortune to eleven years...

Later entertainment news broke that "Extreme Job", produced by Liu Yifei and directed by Happy Twist, had actually challenged the eight major cinema chains and raised the profit sharing ratio to 45%, which made all the major producers green with shame.

And in December.

The hand-to-hand combat intensifies, and the peak showdown is attended by many superstars.

"The Grandmaster" was ultimately delayed and not released because the studio refused to let it.

"The Guillotines" is Andrew Lau's new work, which brings together idols such as Huang Xiaoming, Ethan Ruan and Chris Lee. The director who produced "Young and Dangerous", "Furious 2", "Infernal Affairs" and "Initial D" also aims to launch a charge against his good friend Chan Kexin.

"The Great Shanghai" was released long before Christmas. Although it seemed to have the lowest public opinion, it had already taken up half of the box office in Shanghai before its premiere. Wang Jing rarely joins the Lunar New Year box office. This time he seems to have a good hand, so he participated in the exhibition. The cooperation between Xu Wenqiang and Zhou Runfa gave him the courage to give it a try.

"Chinese Zodiac" is Cheng Long's first film after returning to China after Hollywood. He directed and starred in it himself, and it also received a lot of public attention.

"Lost in Thailand" was brought to its peak by Guan Ling's science fiction film that suppressed the contemporary world. Anyone who pays attention to Guan Ling will definitely pay attention to this movie.

The battle among the top five is indeed the pinnacle of the hand-to-hand combat during the Lunar New Year period.

What’s more, there are still four previous movies that have not been released, which makes this battle even more breathtaking.

But everyone was also glad that Guan Ling was not involved.

But no one expected that Guan Ling would also shake everyone's mind outside the venue.

But now, for distributors and producers, at least in their eyes, they have the strength to fight.

Don't watch the split-revenue films in December; this is an explicit rule of the Lunar New Year period.

This is still the case this year, because December has always been the most important month for domestic films. In order to avoid accidental conflicts, "Skyfall" and "The Hobbit: Strange Journey" were both postponed to January next year.

It's not just a feast of blockbusters, but small and medium-sized films have also begun to form a group to attack with diverse genres. Thrillers or romantic comedies like "My Husband Is Unreliable" and "The Snow Mountain" are also trying to survive in the cracks.

Before, this was indeed a suspense in the minds of countless people.

Who can kill it?

But now, although "The Grandmaster" has just sold 1.5 million, it is already showing signs of fatigue.

"The Guillotine" was even crushed to pieces.

After one week of release, the box office revenue was less than 100 million yuan.

At this time, the release of a number of blockbuster movies has ignited a raging fire in the winter.

In terms of the first day box office, "Chinese Zodiac" directed and acted by Jackie Chan earned 4800 million in a single day. "Lost in Thailand" ranked second with a box office of 4200 million because Guan Ling was only the producer and director.

The next day, the first day box office came out.

Guan Ling received a text message from Cheng Long while she was half asleep.

"Director Guan, it seems that you are slightly inferior to me this time."

Cheng Long probably knew it was embarrassing to call and disturb her so late at night, so he just sent a WeChat message.

Prepare to install a small wave.

Guan Ling happened to be awake, and replied to Cheng Long, "Can it be sold for 11 billion?"

Cheng Long called me very quickly. I didn't dare to curse him, but on the other end of the phone, he kept saying "fuck you" and "fuck you".

Cheng Long was completely numb.

I wish I could slap myself a few times.

"Extreme Job" has just come out of theaters, and the box office is now on everyone's head.

Cheng Long was so excited that he forgot about this matter and put his face close to Guan Ling and was hit.

Cheng Long talked nonsense for a while, while Guan Ling continued, "How much did it cost you? The movie "Extreme Job" produced by Liu Yifei cost less than 30 million."

Cheng Long: ...

What should I do? I feel a little regretful about calling Guan Ling.
But the call has already been connected, so it would not be a good idea to just hang up.

"By the way, Director Guan, is there a role for me in your sci-fi movie?"

He quickly and cleverly changed the subject. Guan Ling smiled and said, "No, I'm not talking about astronauts. Your height and body shape are not suitable."

He was struck three times in a row.

Cheng Long was so angry that he continued to talk about the first day box office of "Zodiac" in an attempt to crush Guan Ling.

"Nothing else matters. Anyway, it looks like I'll have the box office champion for this Lunar New Year holiday."

Guan Ling said: "Then I congratulate you in advance. Loan champion."

Cheng Long felt that Guan Ling was being stubborn and smiled.

"Although this movie was not directed by Guan, it was also invested and produced by Lingyun Media. I was really moved to win once. The feeling of being beaten by you when you just debuted was really not a pleasant one.

Anyway, I am very happy to have surpassed it this time. "

Cheng Long recalled some distant memories.

But Guan Ling couldn't help but remind him, "You're too happy too early. The average price of your movie ticket is five yuan higher than that of Lost in Thailand, which means that the two movies don't differ much in terms of the number of people."

“Who told you to set the price low?”

“My cost is low.”

Cheng Long was quite unhappy after being humiliated by Guan Ling.

After hanging up the phone, I encouraged myself, "Hold on. Hold on tight. At least make it through two weeks. This way I can still be happy for two weeks."

……

The next day.

Cheng Long felt that something was wrong.

After the first day of release, the reviews of the two films were surprisingly different.

"We should not judge a film by its box office. Although Lost in Thailand was slightly worse than Chinese Zodiac on the first day, from my personal point of view, Lost in Thailand is more approachable, down-to-earth and more acceptable than Chinese Zodiac.

Not to mention the designs of unlucky people, road movies and losers,

The main themes alone are personal struggle and family affection, which are the hard currency of values.

Sometimes the creators will deliberately intensify the comedy and downplay the preaching, only to reveal their true colors at the very end.

Even in the small tender scenes, they are neither sensational nor exaggerated, adhering to the comedy's duty.
Fan Bingbing’s Easter egg in the movie can even be selected as the surprise of the year.

As a Hollywood superstar of "Scarlet Witch", it is really a surprise that she can appear in such a comedy.

In comparison, the preaching in "The Chinese Zodiac" is a bit weird, not very high-class and not moral, old-fashioned and not convincing.

You say that the idea of ​​stealing for the sake of the country is the main theme, it seems like it is against the law. If you say it is against the law, it seems acceptable, it feels like a political lesson for everyone.

What we ordinary people want is to pay 50 yuan to go to the cinema to have a waking dream, and then continue to work hard after coming out.

Unfortunately, such a request is always difficult to achieve, and is often used by enthusiastic filmmakers to carry out various private goods:

"The King's Feast" will tell you how the world is.
"1942" wants to tell you how the nation is.
"The Chinese Zodiac" promises a dream of world peace, but they always complain that the audience is not tired enough.

Compared with "Extreme Job" and "Lost in Thailand", they don't lack anything, but have too much.

To paraphrase Kenji Wu, you just want to sing for me.

So if I had to choose, I would definitely watch Lost in Thailand."

A long review by Ma Yufei, known as Lingyun Media's exclusive film critic, led to countless positive reviews and started a nationwide carnival.

"It made me laugh so hard. I haven't seen such a funny movie in a long time. It's definitely a stress reliever."

"It doesn't matter what the idea is, it's just fun, lively, happy, and the whole audience burst into laughter. Compared to "Extreme Job", I even think the characters in "Lost in Thailand" are more realistic."

"With little nonsense, clever jokes and lots of easter eggs, I think the director is the best at math among his mainland counterparts. Most of the jokes in the film come from the carefully designed dramatic conflicts, which are hilarious while maintaining a certain suspense and pressure, and thus promote the development of the plot, which is more advanced than just talking nonsense."

Many viewers said that after watching "Lost in Thailand", they laughed until their stomachs and teeth ached, they stomped their feet until they hurt, and some even developed "Lost in Thailand Syndrome".

Although "Chinese Zodiac" received a lot of positive reviews, it was still inferior to "Lost in Thailand", which received a lot of praise.

The box office was reversed.

The next morning, the second day's box office results were released.

"Lost in Thailand" broke 5000 million in a single day, while "Chinese Zodiac" only took 4500 million.

Guan Ling directly video-called Cheng Long to admire his old face.

Cheng Long was in a dilemma whether to accept or not.

In the end, he was still ridiculed.

In the subsequent period of time.

The good reputation of "Lost in Thailand" directly triggered a nationwide movie-watching carnival. The cinemas were packed with people, even comparable to the Spring Festival travel rush.

Stimulated by audience reputation and high attendance, the national screening ratio of "Lost in Thailand" has continued to rise since its release on the 21st, soaring from 34.23% on the first day of release to 52.82% in the first weekend.

The overwhelming screening ratio makes the film a "big hit" during the Lunar New Year holiday.

Many cinemas were dumbfounded and claimed that the cinema was packed with audiences watching "Lost in Thailand", so they had to add an extra show. Unexpectedly, the tickets for the extra show were sold out in 15 minutes, which shows how popular the film is.

For a moment, the entire Internet was numb.

Can such a mid-budget film without 3D or IMAX trigger a nationwide movie-watching craze?
There is a question mark in the hearts of countless people.

After the first week, Xu Zheng received an invitation to work at CCTV Movie Channel.

Before leaving, Xu Zheng met Guan Ling at Lingyun Media.

"Director Guan, this is my first time going there. What should I say? Director Guan, can you please share your experience with me?"

"Just say whatever you want. Say whatever you think."

"I just wanted to make a comedy movie without any spoof or copycat, and return to the real life of ordinary people. But before the movie was released, I didn't expect it to become a super blockbuster. To be honest, it was all thanks to the support of countless audiences."

Xu Zhengdao.

"Just say that."

Guan Ling said, "Just tell them that the audience is our goal. The number of moviegoers tells it all, because the miracle was created by the Chinese audience."

"Don't always look down on the Chinese audience's ability to appreciate movies. A movie that relies on solid and colorful performances and excellent production to create a down-to-earth and happy story, which makes the audience laugh at the end of the year, should have been the first choice for many audiences to watch during the holidays."

“There are no bad audiences, only bad movies.”

Guan Ling stared into Xu Zheng's eyes.
"That's what you said, do you understand?

In the days to come, the glory of being a director and the beautiful view on the top of the mountain will be enjoyed by you alone."

The air suddenly stagnated. (End of this chapter)