China Entertainment started in 2004

Seeing that Director Chen didn't say anything, Chen Hong continued to ask, "What do you think the box office of Interstellar will be?"

"I don't know!" Director Chen didn't want to answer.

However, the more he didn't want to answer, the more Chen Hong pressed him: "Guess what the expected box office is?"

"I can't guess." Director Chen said with a straight face.

Seeing this, Chen Hong was amused and deliberately said, "I think if we don't talk about the global box office, just talking about our domestic box office, it should be able to reach 10 billion."

"One billion?" Director Chen sneered as if he had heard a huge joke, "How is that possible?"

"Why not?" Chen Hong couldn't help but continue teasing.

"Why so many reasons? It's impossible!" Director Chen snorted coldly.

After hearing this, Chen Hong continued to say deliberately: "I think it's possible."

"Ha." Chen Hong sneered, "Let's not talk about other things. Just say that Interstellar is a foreign language film. It can't possibly break 10 billion."

"Then how did Avatar break 10 billion?" Chen Hong retorted.

"Avatar is Avatar, Interstellar is Interstellar, can Wang Shu be compared with Cameron?" Director Chen sneered.

"Why not?" Chen Hong continued to refute, "Wang Shu is now the Oscar-winning director. There are not many directors in the world who can win the Oscar for consecutive years. Why can't he do that?"

"Ha." Director Chen sneered, "What do you know? Can Wang Shulianzhuang be compared with Cameron? I tell you, he is far from Cameron."

"They are not directors of the same level at all."

"How come he's not a director of the same level? He's won Oscars consecutively! Consecutive times!" Chen Hong retorted.

"Ha!" Director Chen continued to sneer, "If I tell you that you don't understand, then you just don't understand. In this regard, don't question me. You don't have my authority."

Chen Hong choked up when she heard this. Director Chen is the Palme d'Or director, but she has no relevant honor. If that was the case, she really couldn't refute it.

Since she couldn't refute it, she didn't bother to refute it, and immediately returned to the original question, "Then how much box office can "Interstellar" get?"

"I don't know." Director Chen answered this question sparingly.

"Then I'll guess over 10 billion," said Chen Hong.

"Impossible!" Director Chen immediately retorted.

"That is, although it cannot reach 10 billion, it is almost the same as 10 billion!" Chen Hong continued.

"Oh!" Director Chen sneered and continued to be frugal with his words.

Chen Hong analyzed on her own: "Although it is a bit difficult for movies in our domestic market to break 10 billion, with the lineup of "Interstellar", it seems to be no less than "Pacific Rim", maybe it can really break 10 billion!"

"Impossible!" Director Chen did not want to see "Interstellar" break 10 billion at the domestic box office, and continued to refute.

As we all know, Interstellar is a foreign language film.

If the domestic box office exceeds 10 billion, it will be a slap in the face of many directors, especially those like him who don't get along with Wang Shu.

By then, many people will say that Wang Shu can make 10 billion yuan at the domestic box office for a foreign language film, while some big domestic directors brag about their works all day long, but in the end, they can only make to million yuan at the box office for a Chinese language film.

In comparison, many people would feel ashamed.

"Then tell me how much the box office of "Interstellar" will be? Just guess a number." Chen Hong.

After hearing this, Director Chen stopped talking.

Seeing this, Chen Hong felt that it was boring and did not ask any more questions.

Soon, the two arrived at the cinema, bought tickets and went in.

As the movie began, Director Chen did not feel that there was anything special about it. The film was just scenes of the protagonist working, raising children, and doing household chores.

But as the plot progressed, his body, which had been slumped in the seat, unknowingly sat up.

Chen Hong's eyes were always on the screen. She was watching the film seriously from beginning to end, so she didn't notice anything unusual about Director Chen.

The movie "Interstellar" tells the story of a near future where the Earth faces a serious environmental crisis, food is almost exhausted, and human civilization is facing collapse. Former NASA astronaut Cooper discovered a series of strange gravity anomalies in his daughter Murphy's study, which led him to a secret NASA facility. Scientists use the newly discovered wormhole near Saturn to send astronauts to distant galaxies to find planets suitable for human habitation.

Cooper, persuaded by Professor Brand, decided to leave his daughter and take the spacecraft "Eternity" with other scientists to travel through the wormhole to three planets that may be suitable for human habitation. In the process, they experienced the strange effect of time dilation, that is, the speed of time passing on some planets is much slower than on Earth. The astronauts not only have to face the extreme environment of unknown planets and the mysterious power of black holes, but also have to hold on to hope for the future of mankind in despair and loneliness.

Through stunning visual effects and profound thematic discussions, the film demonstrates the courage and wisdom of mankind in exploring the universe, while also triggering deep thinking about human destiny, love, and hope.

In the end, after passing through the black hole, Cooper accidentally entered a five-dimensional hypercube, and transmitted information to his daughter through gravitational waves, helping mankind find new hope.

Although it is a commercial film, it is also highly artistic.

Both multi-threaded narrative and time jump are important features of this film's narrative art.

The film interweaves the protagonist Cooper's story lines at different time stages through complex time and space interweaving, forming a grand science fiction epic. This narrative method not only tests the audience's thinking ability, but also shows director Wang Shu's unique insights into film art.

Secondly, visual effects and music design are also important manifestations of the artistry of Interstellar. The large number of special effects and visual effects in the film show the fantastic and spectacular scenes in space, making the audience feel as if they are there. The grand, profound and moving soundtrack style adds power to the emotional expression of the film and plays a vital role in the narrative.

In addition, cultural connotations and social significance are also important components of the artistry of Interstellar. The film involves many scientific concepts and philosophical thinking, such as time travel, relativity, black holes, etc. These contents not only add a sci-fi touch to the film, but also bring profound thinking and enlightenment to the audience.

At the same time, the film explores the issues of human survival and development, calling on people to pay attention to environmental and resource protection, and has certain social significance and humanistic value.

Therefore, this movie is not a purely commercial film, but a film that combines commerce and art.

As a director, it is not difficult for Director Chen to see this.

Moreover, this type of movie is also the type that he has always wanted to make but has never been able to make.

All famous directors in the mainland, without exception, advocate art films and look down on commercial films.

Even when making commercial films, I want to incorporate artistic elements into them.

However, almost no one has the ability to make a good movie using this method.

But even so, nothing has changed. Even in 2025, most commercial films still have a didactic flavor.

It is neither art nor business, and it has a strong sense of preaching.

No one bought a ticket and went into the cinema, feeling left out, and now they blame the audience for being incompetent.

This is the environment.

It is undeniable that there are many such directors in Hollywood.

But in Hollywood, in addition to this type of director, there are also some directors who specialize in making commercial films, B-level films, etc.

These directors usually do not have the freedom to modify the script and have to shoot the entire process according to the script.

Most of the films presented are purely commercial films.

Regardless of whether these commercial films are good or not, as commercial films they are relatively pure.

In China, however, there is no room for this kind of director to survive.

The short play director shoots all kinds of melodramatic short plays, which are very commercial.

More than two hours passed in the blink of an eye, and Director Chen and Chen Hong walked out of the cinema one after another.

Seeing that Director Chen remained silent all the way, Chen Hong couldn't help but ask, "How do you feel about this movie?"

It is now the end of October and Beijing has entered winter. Director Chen is wearing thicker clothes. When he heard this question, he did not answer, but continued to walk forward silently.

"Hey, I'm asking you a question." Seeing this, Chen Hong chased after him.

Director Chen did not keep silent at this time. He looked up at the surrounding scenery and sighed, "It's okay."

In the original timeline, Director Chen did not comment on "Interstellar" in this way. He kept praising the movie to the sky.

Even when interviewed by the media, he was full of praise for the movie.

And there is a reason why he praises it so much.

That is, other people cannot understand the professional knowledge, and he thinks that as an educated person he knows a little bit and is superior to others.

The more he praises this movie, the more it shows that he understands it, and the more he seems to be better than others.

"Not bad?" Chen Hong was a little surprised.

I thought to myself, this is very unlike Director Chen?
Shouldn't Director Chen find fault with Wang Shu's movie?
How come it's okay?

Director Chen nodded without explaining.

The movie "Interstellar" is both commercial and artistic, and this is exactly the movie he has always wanted to make.

Now I see that Wang Shu not only made the film he wanted to make, but also made it very well.

Finding fault in this situation will only make you a laughing stock.

But if you ask him to praise Wang Shu's movie, the arrogant director Chen can't do it.

It's impossible to brag, at most I can just say one sentence.

He wanted to make this kind of movie not because he wanted to make a commercial film, but because he wanted to combine business and art to make a commercial art film.

"Mei Lanfang" is a euphemistic name for this.

However, "Mei Lanfang" flopped at the box office and even failed to make any money at the three major European cinemas.

Therefore, both in business and art, it is a failure.

Now Wang Shu's "Interstellar" makes him feel that business and art are well combined, but the style of movies he shot is not of this flavor, which caused him a great blow in his heart.

He had no doubt that Wang Shu could make a movie of this style.

First, Wang Shu is good at making science fiction films.

Second, Wang Shu is a consecutive Oscar-winning director who specializes in making art films.

Third, Wang Shu is the first director in the domestic cinema chain to have a single film box office exceeding 1 billion yuan, and he is also good at making commercial films.

He is good at making both art films and commercial films. Now it makes sense for him to make films that combine business and art.

This made Director Chen wonder in his heart, is the reason why he is not good at making this type of movie because he is not good at commercial films?

So, using artistic techniques to shoot commercial films lacks some flavor?
Seeing this, Chen Hong said, "I think this movie is very well made. I just said it casually before that it could break 10 billion at the box office. Now I really think it is very likely to break 10 billion."

"Ha." Director Chen sneered and said, "Do you think a box office of 10 billion is easy money? You can get it just because you want it?"

"You are also a producer, but don't you see that there are so many films in China every year? It's hard to break 1 million, let alone 10 billion."

"Interstellar can break 10 billion, you dare to say that!"

"Why don't you dare to say it?" Chen Hong retorted, "Just because other people's movies can't make 10 billion doesn't mean Wang Shu's movies can't make 10 billion."

"Didn't many people think that Pacific Rim would only make 300 or 400 million yuan?"

"What happened? It broke 10 billion!"

"Today's Interstellar is better than Pacific Rim in my opinion."

“I think a lot of people would share the same idea as me.”

“Since Pacific Rim can break 10 billion, Interstellar can also break 10 billion.”

"Heh." Director Chen continued to sneer after hearing that.

"Isn't it?" Chen Hong asked immediately after seeing Director Chen's attitude.

Director Chen chuckled and said, "Let's not talk about how Interstellar is, just look at the time it was released. It's not a time that can break 10 billion."

When Chen Hong heard this, she was stunned.

"Interstellar" will be released on October 10, which is after the National Day and before the New Year, which is not a good release date.

According to this analysis, it really lacks the potential to break 10 billion at the box office!

In the original timeline, "Interstellar" was released in North America on November 11.

It is now October 10th. Not counting the year, just looking at the month, the difference is only a few days.

However, this time point is the normal release period for science fiction films in North America, but it is different in China.

In China, the time slots for films are the May Day, National Day, New Year and Spring Festival, and "Interstellar" happens not to be included in any of them.

In China, if a movie does not have a good release date, it often does not perform well at the box office.

and so……

Chen Hong was silent, not knowing how to refute for a moment.

After a long while, he said angrily: "Even if it doesn't have a box office of 10 billion, it will still have a box office of several hundred million."

This time, Director Chen did not sneer and refute, but walked forward silently.

Having already watched "Interstellar" in the cinema, he certainly knows the quality of the film.

It can be said that if it was not a foreign language film but a Chinese film, and had a good release date, it might have been able to create another box office miracle.

Although he knows that the quality of "Interstellar" is up to standard, Director Chen is proud of himself.

Even if I know it in my heart, I won't admit it. (End of this chapter)