Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 595 594 "Xiying doesn't want to shoot? We will!"

But after thinking about it carefully, he understood the reason.

Historically, Stephen Chow first collaborated with the Xi'an Film Studio around 1994, but now it is 1992, two years earlier.

Although the Xi'an Film Studio has gone downhill now, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse.

In the past two years, Zhang Yimou's film Ju Dou won the first Louis Bruinier Special Award at the 43rd Cannes International Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar. Feng Xiaoning's film War Meridian won the 11th Golden Rooster Award for Director Special Award and the Gold Award at the Tokyo International Children's Film Festival in Japan. Chen Kaige's film Walking and Singing won the competition film at the Cannes International Film Festival in France.

There are also films such as "Stand Up, Don't Lie Down" directed by Huang Jianxin and "Yellow River Ballad" directed by Teng Wenji, which have achieved remarkable results.

In other words, the Xi'an Film Studio is still quite powerful now, so naturally they would look down on this lousy script, even though it stars Stephen Chow.

However, the next year (1993), the country began the "10 Blockbuster Films" plan, giving mainland audiences the opportunity to enjoy the latest foreign blockbusters. Then, with the rise of private investment and the emergence of numerous pirated discs, major domestic film studios including the Xi'an Film Studio faced an unprecedented crisis and had to start finding their own way out, cooperating with Hong Kong film and television companies.

"A Chinese Odyssey" is one example.

Now that Stephen Chow and Liu Zhenwei had come to her house to ask for help, Fang Minghua thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Zhou, Mr. Liu, I can give it a try, but I can't guarantee that it will work."

"Thank you so much."

After chatting for a while, Stephen Chow and others said goodbye and left.

In the evening, Song Tangtang first sent her two children to her parents' house - they were going to kindergarten the next day, and then drove home.

When the couple was sitting on the sofa in the living room and chatting, Fang Minghua recounted in detail what happened when Stephen Chow came to visit him today.

Song Tangtang fell into deep thought after listening to it, and after a while he said, "Minghua, I am a little moved."

"Ok?"

"I want to work with Stephen Chow to prepare for this movie. Anyway, the filming of "The Weaving Girl" directed by Wang Quanan has already started, and the company has nothing important to do now."

Earlier this year, Wang Quan'an obtained the film and television adaptation rights for the novel "The Textile Girl" from Fang Minghua, and adapted it into a film script himself. With investment from Shengshi Film and Television, filming has already begun in the Textile City.

It was a low-budget movie with a budget of only 60 yuan, and Wang Quanan had to do it all by himself.

Of course, Fang Minghua was not considering this matter.

"When you were filming A Chinese Odyssey, weren't you worried about losing money at the box office? I told you about this when I came back from Hong Kong last year, and your analysis at the time made a lot of sense," he reminded.

"I'm worried, but I can't bear to give up. If it's well made, it will definitely be a groundbreaking movie. Now that Xiying doesn't accept it, it's equivalent to giving Shengshi Film and Television a chance." Song Tangtang explained.

"Tangled?"

"Ok!"

Song Tangtang nodded and looked at Fang Minghua who suddenly used a coquettish tone.

"Husband. Husband"

"What?" Fang Minghua subconsciously moved a little further away from Song Tangtang.

He knew that his wife suddenly did this because she must have some difficult task to ask of him.

Sure enough, Song Tangtang came over and clung to Fang Minghua, saying coquettishly, "Husband, please think of a way. I really want to co-produce this movie. Don't let the box office be too bad, or at least don't lose money."

Fang Minghua couldn't laugh or cry after hearing this.

"I'm not a god, what can I do?"

"You have, you must have!"

Song Tangtang said coquettishly.

Fang Minghua hugged his wife's soft waist: "Do you really want to take a photo?"

"Ok!"

"Then go ahead and shoot it. We'll talk about it after it's finished. As for whether it's a loss or not, don't worry too much." "Why?"

"The Red Army is doing real estate and making a lot of money. Even if you lose money, he can fill the hole." Fang Minghua said half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"What if the Red Army also loses money in land speculation?" Song Tangtang asked in return.

"How could he lose money?" Fang Minghua laughed: "If he really lost money, Shengshi Group would be completely ruined. Why would he care about your investment?"

"Okay then. Tomorrow you contact Stephen Chow. We at Shengshi Films will cooperate with him. Of course, we will pay a small portion of the funds, and they will pay the majority!"

"Continue to look for Xiying to buy the dragon mark?"

"No, this time I went to the China Film Co-production Company and bought their dragon logo to make Raise the Red Lantern. I think the cooperation was quite pleasant."

"Okay, then do what you think is right." Fang Minghua agreed.

"Okay, I'll go take a shower and read for a while." Song Tangtang said and stood up.

My wife likes taking a bath very much and takes one almost every day.

Song Tangtang went upstairs, and Fang Minghua sat on the sofa and continued to think about this matter.

He certainly didn't want the film to flop at the box office.

In fact, the box office of "A Chinese Odyssey" in Hong Kong was not too bad, with 4500 million barely breaking even. It was mainly due to its dismal box office performance in mainland China.

But it was pretty good when it was first released. It was said that it made 200 million at the box office in Shanghai, but it was born at the wrong time.

There were so many blockbusters this year (1995), including Zhang Yimou's "Raise the Red Lantern", Jiang Wen's "Sunny Days", Li Shaohong's "Red Powder", not to mention the foreign blockbusters "True Lies", "The Lion King", "Forrest Gump", "The Bridges of Madison County", "Jumanji" and "Rumble in the Bronx".

"A Chinese Odyssey" was released almost at the same time as these movies, but ended up being terribly underrated.

It’s only 1992!
The film would have been released in 93 at the latest. At that time, although the policy of importing foreign blockbusters had been announced, no blockbusters had been officially introduced, so the competitiveness was naturally much smaller.

Also, "The Legend of Sun Wukong" has been released in advance, so will the audience be more receptive to "A Chinese Odyssey"?

Of course, there will be roadshows and vigorous promotion before the official release.

In the mainland, it seems that there are no movies doing roadshows yet?
Oh, by the way, when the time is right, the three movies adapted from his own novels, "The Bridges of Madison County", "Ghost" and "The Twilight Saga", will be introduced into the country.

It's the 1990s now, and the acceptance level of mainland audiences is no longer comparable to that of the 1980s.

Fang Minghua closed his eyes slightly, thinking wildly.

Early the next morning, Fang Minghua called Stephen Chow.

At this time, Stephen Chow had already booked a flight back to Shenzhen. Although Fang Minghua agreed to help, he did not specify the specific time. He also knew that this would not be a matter of one or two days and he could not afford to delay.

I just finished filming the second part of "Fight Back to School" and am currently busy filming "Justice, My Foot".

Unexpectedly, Fang Minghua called him on his mobile phone, saying that there was some progress on the co-production of the movie "A Chinese Odyssey" and asked him to come to his house for a detailed discussion in person.

Stephen Chow was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately rushed to Fang Minghua's house with Liu Zhenwei.

This time, Fang Minghua was not alone at home, but also his wife, Song Tangtang.

After the two sides introduced themselves, Fang Minghua went straight to the point.

"Mr. Zhou, Mr. Liu, Xi'an Film Studio doesn't want you to cooperate, but another film and television company is willing."

"Which one?" Stephen Chow was shocked.

"My wife Song Tangtang's company - Shengshi Film and Television," Fang Minghua replied with a smile.

(End of this chapter)