China Entertainment started in 2004

Chapter 643

The analysis on the Internet about how it is impossible for Wang Shu to win the Oscar for Best Director consecutively is very convincing, making many people increasingly believe that it is indeed impossible for Wang Shu to win another Oscar for Best Director.

As for the Best Picture award, that's also unlikely.

Because some people have also analyzed the movie "The Hurt Locker" and believe that since "The Hurt Locker" won the British Academy Film Award for Best Picture, then based on the nature of "The Hurt Locker", it is also very likely to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

……

"Another Best Director Award, but there's no way I'll ever get an Oscar."

Upon hearing the news that Wang Shu won the award, Wang Zhonglei said with a smile.

The Lunar New Year has passed, and all industries across the country are back to business.

Huayi is holding an internal meeting to discuss various goals and arrangements after the New Year.

In addition to the two Wangs, Feng Xiaogang was also there.

The meeting was not formal, but Huayi was now rich, and Wang Zhongjun also wanted to make a special effects blockbuster like "Pacific Rim".

"Pacific Rim" and "Avatar" both achieved box office revenue of over 1 billion in China, which made Wang Zhongjun very jealous.

In the past, Huayi had no money and did not dare to undertake such projects.

Things are different now.

《环太平洋》12月18日上映，到1月18日，一个月时间斩获10.35亿。

In this day and age, it is normal for a film to be taken off the screen within a month of being released in theaters.

However, thanks to Wang Shu's long-term cooperative relationship with China Film Group, and the fact that China Film Group also participated in the investment of "Pacific Rim", the key was successfully obtained to postpone the release for another month, and the film was not removed from theaters until February 2.

Although "Avatar" dominated the theaters during the postponement of the movie this month, it is still within the Spring Festival period.

Even though the screening schedule of Pacific Rim was reduced a lot, it still managed to garner more than 100 million yuan at the box office again.

After two months of release in mainland China, the total box office reached 11.52 billion yuan.

Wang Shu became the first director in China to have a movie that grossed over 10 billion yuan.

And, far ahead.

In the original timeline, the top ten domestic films at the box office in 2009.

First, "Founding of a Republic", 4.19 million.

Second, "Red Cliff", directed by John Woo, 2.6 million.

Third, "The Whistleblower", co-directed by Alan Mak and others, with a box office of 2.1 million.

In the original timeline, ranked third was Zhang Yimou's "Three Shots Surprise", and ranked fourth was "The Besieged City" directed by Chen Dejue.

But both of these movies were released during the New Year period, hoping to take advantage of this good period to achieve high box office.

Although the idea was good, it was coincidental with the release of Pacific Rim which was also released during the New Year period.

Whether it is "Three Shots Surprise" or "The Siege of the City in October", they are all regular domestic films. How can they be the rival of special effects blockbusters like "Pacific Rim"?

Everyone is affected.

Originally, both movies had box office revenues of over 2 million yuan, but due to the impact of Pacific Rim, they only earned over million yuan.

As for the tenth place, it is "Perfect Match", starring Zhang Ziyi, Fan Binbin and others, with 9400 million views.

Although "Founding of a Republic", which ranks first, has broken 4 million yuan, this movie is actually special and cannot be judged by common sense.

Domestic films are actually still in the 3 million box office era. Even if "Founding of a Republic" is included, it is only in the 4 million box office era.

And "Pacific Rim", which Wang Shu is preparing to direct, has leapt into the 10 billion box office era!
Break the lead!

Especially, "Founding of a Republic" only had 4 million yuan, and "Perfect Match" which ranked tenth did not even have a box office of 1 million yuan.

In comparison, the contrast is too obvious.

Before this, no one thought that a movie with a box office of 10 billion yuan could be produced in mainland cinemas.

If Pacific Rim was an accident, then Avatar's box office of over 1 billion was a wake-up call.

The simultaneous appearance of two movies that broke the billion-dollar box office allowed people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Hong Kong, Macau, and even Europe and the United States to see the huge market potential of mainland China.

"It's really impossible to get it." Feng Xiaogang responded, "Although Life of Pi is good, it's impossible for Wang Shu to win the first prize for two consecutive years."

Although the specific reason was not stated, it was clear to everyone present.

Wang Zhongjun also echoed: "It is very difficult to win the Oscar for consecutive years, especially since Wang Shu is a young Chinese-language film director, it is even more difficult."

After a short pause, he continued, "I heard that the higher-ups have given the message that as long as Wang Shu returns to China to make a suitable art film, he will have a chance to win a prize at the Huabiao, Golden Rooster, or Hundred Flowers Awards."

The word "suitable" is very particular. The art film type needs to meet the domestic award standards, rather than being a film that presents suffering and wins the three major European awards.

For example, making a mainstream art film is within the appropriate scope.

Feng Xiaogang sensed something and asked, "Are the higher-ups trying to push Wang Shu out?"

"I think he has this idea." Wang Zhongjun did not comment. "Wang Shu is the first Oscar-winning director in our country. Pacific Rim has also broken the 10 billion box office in mainland theaters. He is still young."

"If the higher-ups want to develop the film industry, they have to give it a push."

"Wang Shu is just right."

Wang Zhonglei responded, "I think the higher-ups wanted to promote Wang Shu because he is a famous international director."

After saying that, he felt that this statement was ambiguous, and then continued, "The international directors I'm talking about don't mean the kind that have won the three major awards in Europe, but the kind that have won the Oscars and are more well-known and influential."

"The higher-ups should value Wang Shu's influence on the international stage. He is the only one in our country who has such influence."

“So I want to push him to the top.”

Feng Xiaogang also felt that it was not much different, and continued with a smile: "Things are different now. The higher-ups want to push him to a higher position, but it is still unclear whether others will approve of him or not."

"Let's not talk about anything else, just take the Film Association and the Directors Association as examples. Wang Shu has not even joined them."

“On the contrary, he joined the Directors Guild of America.”

Wang Shu joined the Directors Guild of America for work.

Wang Da, Wang Xiao, Feng Xiaogang and others all understand it, but they just don’t say it.

To join the Directors Guild of America, you don't necessarily need to be a U.S. citizen; you just need to have a legal work permit in the U.S.

A big director like Wang Shu, who has won an Oscar, naturally has a legal work permit and was able to join the Directors Guild of America very smoothly.

Wang Zhonglei laughed when he heard this and said, "The reason why Wang Shu didn't join the Film Association is because of the people in it."

"If they hadn't previously announced that Wang Shu wouldn't be allowed to join, would Wang Shu be so vindictive?"

Feng Xiaogang chuckled and continued, "That's why I said it's still undecided whether Wang Shu likes her or not."

"Although we have a large domestic market, the center of the world's film industry is in Hollywood."

"Even if the higher-ups want to push him to a higher position, he may not be interested." This is indeed true. Even if Wang Shu makes more movies in China, he is just a domestic Chinese-language film director.

But the Hollywood stage is open to the whole world.

The stage here is bigger.

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhongjun responded, “Although Wang Shu may not like it, he will definitely return to China to make movies.”

"Let's not talk about anything else. Just say that Han Sanping wants to make a big movie. I have talked to him about this many times. It is impossible for him to completely ignore it."

When several people heard this, they did not comment.

After all, this is a society where human relationships are important, and these are things that cannot be avoided.

Wang Zhonglei spoke up at the right time: "By the way, when are we going to make a big movie?"

When Wang Zhongjun heard this, his eyes fell on Feng Xiaogang, waiting for Feng Xiaogang's answer.

The two Wangs talked a lot and finally brought the topic to the purpose.

Seeing this, Feng Xiaogang took a deep breath and said, "We need a good script, preferably one like Tangshan."

European and American disaster films made Feng Xiaogang realize that this type of film can also be made into a special effects blockbuster.

He was a little unsure about shooting other types of special effects blockbusters, but with his experience in shooting "Tangshan", he felt that it shouldn't be a big problem to shoot a film like "Tangshan".

"Disaster film?" Wang Zhongjun frowned. "Is there a big enough market for this type of film?"

This does not mean that he underestimates the market for disaster films. If he did, he would not have invested in the movie "Tangshan". Instead, he thinks the market for disaster films may have a ceiling, and it will be difficult to break the 1 billion box office in China like "Pacific Rim" and "Avatar".

He felt this way because a movie called "2012" was released before "Pacific Rim".

The box office of this movie made him feel that the market might have a ceiling.

The 2012 million box office performance of "4.5" made Feng Xiaogang unsure. He thought for a moment and said, "2012 is an English film. If we had made a Chinese film, the box office might have been different."

"Also, as an imported film, 2012's domestic box office is not as high as Avatar, but it is still among the best, which shows that disaster films have a huge audience in China."

There was some truth in this, and Wang Zhongjun knew that Feng Xiaogang proposed the disaster film script because he thought this kind of script was more reliable, so he said, "Then I'll look for someone to see if I can find a good disaster film script."

Wang Zhonglei's eyes flickered between Wang Zhongjun and Feng Xiaogang for a moment, and he suggested, "How about... we find someone to turn Wenchuan into a script?"

Wang Zhongjun's eyes lit up when he heard this, but he immediately denied it, "No, we already have the movie Tangshan. If we make another disaster movie of the same type, the audience may not buy it."

Feng Xiaogang also thought it made sense and nodded in response, "Indeed."

Wang Zhongjun thought for a moment and said, "First arrange for someone to find a script, and then discuss it after a suitable script is found."

Feng Xiaogang and Wang Zhonglei nodded at the same time.

"Xun'er, Director Wang won the Best Director Award at the British Academy Film Awards." Shu Qi looked at Zhou Xun next to him and said with a smile.

After the Chinese New Year, Zhou Xun, Shu Qi, Yao Chen, Chen Kun and others gathered together for dinner.

This time, Zhao Yanzi is also here.

"I heard about it, but I didn't have the chance to congratulate him." Zhou Xun replied with a smile.

Yao Chen said doubtfully: "British Academy Film Awards? Is that impressive?"

"Of course." Shu Qi did not comment. "In terms of the influence of world film awards, the Oscars are number one, followed by the three major European awards, then the Golden Globe Awards, and then the British Academy Film Awards."

"This award is much more impressive than the Golden Horse Awards."

She did not mention the Huabiao, the Golden Rooster, or the Hundred Flowers.

Nowadays, the most prestigious award for Chinese-language films is the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards.

Yao Chen suddenly realized what was going on and exclaimed, "Doesn't that mean Director Wang has won another big award?"

"Hmm." Shu Qi responded without comment.

Zhao Yanzi asked at the right time: "Director Wang doesn't seem to be going to the Golden Horse Awards?"

Everyone present knew about this and guessed the reason in their hearts, but no one said it out loud.

Yao Chen is not a movie actor, so he didn't have so many concerns. He immediately replied, "You just said that Director Wang won the Best Director Award at the British Academy of Film Awards, which is ranked sixth in the world. In addition, he also won the Best Director Award at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Director Award at the Oscars."

"Maybe for him, there is no need to go to the Golden Horse Awards?"

"And he didn't just go to the Golden Horse Awards, he also never went to the Golden Rooster or Hundred Flowers Awards."

"Huabiao still came as the host."

It is precisely because Wang Shu has never been to the Golden Rooster or Hundred Flowers Awards that no one thinks he has any prejudice against the Golden Horse Awards, but rather looks down on them all equally.

As an Oscar-winning director, he does have the capital to be looked down upon.

It's just that the Golden Horse Awards still have their reputation these days, and Wang Shu is a Chinese-language film director after all. His decision not to go for the Golden Rooster or Hundred Flowers Awards can be understood as these two awards are too worthless and Wang Shu looks down on them.

Or maybe Wang Shu was targeted before and was holding a grudge.

Many people think that if you don't go to the Golden Horse Awards, you are arrogant and look down on others.

Zhou Xun glanced at Shu Qi and chuckled, "Maybe he didn't go to the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards, and he also won an international award, so he just didn't go either?"

These words were meant to excuse Wang Shu, indicating that he was not arrogant and looked down on the Golden Horse Awards, but that he treated everyone equally.

Many people may look down on Wang Shu now because he did not go to Golden Rooster or Hundred Flowers, but at the beginning it was not that Wang Shu looked down on them, but that there was a conflict between the two sides.

Therefore, it was because of the conflict that Wang Shu did not go to the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards, and then he did not go to the Golden Horse Awards.

This statement seems to be correct.

In fact, many people know that Wang Shu is now an Oscar-winning director, and he most likely looks down on the Golden Rooster, Hundred Flowers, and Golden Horse Awards.

Shu Qi curled his lips and said, "Maybe it was like that before, but now I probably don't think much of it."

“I heard that he was invited to join the film festival association, but he declined as well.”

Chen Kun heard this and said at the right time: "Someone had said before that Director Wang would not be allowed to join the association. I guess that's why Director Wang declined."

Zhao Yanzi nodded: "I've heard about this, too. It seems that many people have the same attitude."

Zhou Xun smiled and said, "It's a different story. Now they're inviting us the other way around, aren't they?"

Zhao Yanzi continued, "Director Wang is an Oscar-winning director, the only one in mainland China. The association will definitely invite him."

"Otherwise, the only Oscar-winning director in the mainland is not a member of the association. Isn't this a big joke?"

"It's just that the invitation was given, but Director Wang didn't join."

"As long as Director Wang doesn't join, the association will always be a joke."

“Unless there’s another Oscar-winning director.”

(End of this chapter)