China Entertainment: Been working as a director since 03

Chapter 523: Possible Becoming the First Member of the 30 Billion Club
Huang Xiaoming and Li Yu have collaborated so many times that he is very familiar with Li Yu's formula.

He just smelled a familiar formula and a familiar smell.

When filming "Operation Nujiang River", Li Yu deliberately let the unknown Zhang Yi play the leading male role and let him play the second male role.

The purpose is to force him and Zhang Yi to get together.

Once he was beaten by Zhang Yi, an unknown actor, in the movie, he would not only become a stepping stone for Zhang Yi, but would also be embarrassed.

So during the time of filming in Siam, he only slept six or seven hours a day, and tried his best to figure out the role and hone his performance in order to suppress Zhang Yi.

In the end, his goal was not achieved.

He tried his best, but couldn't make his acting skills surpass Zhang Yi.

But he was not ridiculed by the crowd, because according to the standard of 100 points, if Zhang Yi's acting skills are 95 points, Huang Xiaoming's acting skills in "Operation Nujiang River" can be given 85 points.

"I really want to know who is the person I'm acting with this time?"

Huang Xiaoming asked cautiously.

"I just told you that the three male roles are all very outstanding. You and Hu Ge have been confirmed to play them, but we don't know who will play the remaining one yet."

Li Yu said very frankly.

Huang Xiaoming suddenly felt that he was fine again.

As for Hu Ge, he was familiar with him. He had acted with him in "Nirvana in Fire", a dual-male lead drama directed by Li Yu.

In terms of acting, he hung Hu Ge up and beat him.

In the end, it was him, not Hu Ge, who won the Flying Emperor Award.

He had enough confidence to deal with Hu Ge.

"The play is more important than anything else. I will go all out to play the role well."

Huang Xiaoming said confidently.

"Okay, it's good to have this enthusiasm. Zhang Yi called me just now, I'll call him back first."

Li Yu smiled.

"Wait... Director Li, who were you talking about..."

Before Huang Xiaoming could finish his words, Li Yu hung up the phone.

Huang Xiaoming was completely numb. If Zhang Yi really took part in the performance, wouldn't he be beaten again?

Even if his passive skill of 50-50 is stacked a thousand times, he still can't beat others.

Li Yu is indeed a fool, why didn't you tell him this earlier?
If I had told him earlier, how could he have kept his word?

Li Yu could guess that Huang Xiaoming was probably cursing at the other end.

He didn't care because this was exactly the effect he wanted.

Speaking of Zhang Yi, Zhang Yi's fame and status soared after his performance in "Operation Nujiang River".

However, "Operation Nujiang River" has been adapted by Li Yu.

Li Yu referred to "Operation Red Sea" and changed the capture operation in "Operation Nujiang River" into an exciting and professional coordinated operation.

The advantage is that the filming is more realistic and can give the audience an immersive feeling.

It's a bad thing. It's much more difficult to shoot a good group portrait than to highlight one or two characters alone, and it tests the director's ability more.

Once it succeeds, people will think that the director is really great, but the actors are not that outstanding.

Therefore, Zhang Yi did not become extremely famous just by relying on the movie "Operation Nujiang River".

He is still in the rising stage of his career, and if there is a good drama, he will definitely take it.

"Director Li, I've heard about this. There should be a role suitable for me, right? How about I audition?"

Zhang Yi asked.

"No need, just sign the contract. The pay for acting in my drama may be lower than other dramas you take on, so be mentally prepared." Li Yu replied.

Most of the time, good characters in TV dramas are chosen internally, and the person who organizes the show often has the final say.

Casting is just a formality, and most of the actors involved in the casting are just runners-up.

For example, in Zhang Da Huzi's version of "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", can you believe that Yan Danchen lost to Liu Yifei in the audition for Wang Yuyan?

Yan Danchen made several low-budget movies during her college years and even won awards.

On the other hand, Liu Yifei was disliked by the lead actor Chen Kun in "The Story of a Noble Family" for her poor acting skills.

Li Yu would not be so deceiving. He would go back to cast the characters and would not use the roles that have already been decided to fish for.

He would say that those roles have already been decided, and the vacant roles will really be chosen from the actors participating in the casting.

While Li Yu was preparing for "The Disguiser", the New Year was approaching and "Detective Chinatown 2" directed by Wang Jing was scheduled to be released nationwide on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Although Stephen Chow's "The Mermaid" was absent from the 16 Spring Festival schedule, there was a strong lineup for the 16 Spring Festival schedule.

"Journey to the West: The Monkey King 3: The White Bone Demon" directed by Zheng Baorui and starring Aaron Kwok, Gong Huang, Feng Shaofeng, Xiao Shen Yang and others.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny" directed by Yuan Heping and starring Zhen Zidan and Yang Ziqiong.

There is also "Kung Fu Panda 3" and so on.

Among these films, several have grossed over 10 billion yuan in the domestic box office.

In just a few years, the domestic film industry has gone from having a box office of 10 billion being considered a legend to having a box office of 10 billion being taken for granted.

People have seen too many movies that have exploded at the box office, and the threshold has been raised.

Nowadays, it is difficult to create a sensation without 20 billion or 30 billion.

"How about we also follow Stephen Chow's example and do an extreme marketing campaign?"

Wang Jing discussed marketing strategies with Li Yu.

"Forget it. Detective Chinatown 2 is of good quality and has strong commercial appeal. It can achieve good results just by being a work. Why do we need to resort to extreme marketing?
You can't be jealous just because "The Mermaid" earned 28 billion at the box office thanks to marketing, which will disrupt our own rhythm.

There is no need for a healthy person to get a big tonic injection, as it will have side effects.

We are now over-marketing, and when "Detective Chinatown 3" comes out, the backlash will come.

Unless you don’t want to shoot “Detective Chinatown 3” and plan to end the series with “Detective Chinatown 2”.

Li Yu is very rational.

He has always been restrained in marketing because he has seen too many examples of excessive marketing going wrong.

Stephen Chow is just one of them. There is also Wu Jing’s Wolf Warrior character, which later became a meme for people to mock him.

Li Yu added: "Don't worry, the box office of Detective Chinatown 2 will not be less than 25 billion, and it may become the first member to enter the 30 billion club."

Li Yu dared to say this because the market is big enough and has the conditions to generate a box office of 30 billion yuan.

Another very important point is that "Detective Chinatown 2" is a comedy, a very pure commercial film, and the Spring Festival schedule is really friendly to comedy films.

During the Chinese New Year, the family reunites and who doesn’t want to go to the cinema to watch a comedy with the family?
During this period, as long as the quality is up to standard and comedy movies can make people laugh, the box office will usually not be bad.

"Director Li, if you say that, I won't be sleepy anymore."

Wang Jing was very excited.

The 30 billion club was something he had never dared to imagine before.

It would be so cool if he joined the 30 billion club, and he can brag about it for a long time when he returns to Hong Kong Island.

In the future, when he goes on TV shows to show off, he can not only say that the box office of his movies is either several hundred million or tens of billions, but also that it is normal to have ups and downs in life.

He could also add tens of billions to this sentence, which would instantly raise his status.

(End of this chapter)