Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 626: Challenge Nomination
Hollywood.

The statement and interview video continued to ferment, and Lionsgate responded after several days of preparation.

"Boss, check the news." Reid rushed into the office, shouting.

"what happened?"

"Lionsgate has responded, saying they are willing to release The Hunger Games 3 to compete with Rise of the Planet of the Apes in the same time slot," Ryder said breathlessly.

"Oh, let's contact Warner Bros. and jointly publish an article to respond to the challenge. I believe they will also be happy to promote "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" in advance."

When talking about Lionsgate, we have to mention director James Wan. I remember that Gu Wei once invited him to shoot a horror movie in order to increase the company's revenue.

After all, a successful and box-office horror film can bring in a lot of money in a short period of time. Unfortunately, James Wan finally chose to refuse, and the two parties failed to cooperate successfully.

Moreover, horror movies are something that require small investments and have quick returns, which is similar to the artistic action movies of the Japanese countries.

After much consideration, Gu Wei finally decided to go for the special effects blockbuster route and gave up on the horror film.

As time goes by, James Wan gradually moved out of the field of horror films and began to get involved in the field of commercial blockbusters and special effects films. For example, "Fast and Furious 7", which was forced to be shelved due to the death of Mark Wahlberg, was directed by him.

By the way, because the two parties failed to reach a cooperation, when Lionsgate wanted to purchase the script of "The Conjuring" later, it was rejected by Ryder.

"Perhaps in addition to the competition in commercial blockbusters, we can also compete with each other in the field of horror films." Gu Wei murmured to himself.

Thinking of this, Gu Wei called Reid and told him his thoughts.

"Horror movie?" Reid didn't expect that after so many years, his boss would still have the idea of ​​making this type of movie.

"Boss, are you the one directing?"

Hearing Reid's question, Gu Wei rolled his eyes. He was not interested in horror movies at all, otherwise, after James Wan rejected him, Gu Wei would have made "The Conjuring" by himself.

"Oh, if you don't have time, then we can invite other directors to come and shoot. Do you have any candidates, boss?" Reid smiled awkwardly, as if he had guessed the other party's thoughts, and continued to ask.

"No, this is what you have to do next. Investigate the schedules of the current horror film directors in Hollywood and give me their list."

This is really a case of the boss just talking and the employees running around. There is no other way. The boss has a sudden idea, and Reid can only do it.

It’s just a pity that I might have to miss one or two cocktail parties while looking for the right person.

"No problem, boss, I'll do it right away." As a worker, Reid said one thing and did another, and was ready to let his boss see how efficient he was.

"By the way, a group of "international students" will come from China at the end of the month. They will study at Warner, Universal, and Disney for three months respectively. Have someone arrange for them."

The new office building that started construction two years ago has finally been completed, and the relocation of Xingchen Film and Television was completed at the end of last month.

It’s just because the media reporters focused their attention on the celebration of "The Wandering Earth" breaking the 3 billion box office record, so that except for a few partners in the circle, most netizens did not pay attention to the news in this regard.

The new company covers an area of ​​hundreds of acres. In addition to the 32-story office building, there are more than a dozen departments planned, including a cafeteria, artist apartments, employee dormitories, and fitness areas.

After Song Ge led the employees to move into the new office, Xingchen Film and Television Company recruited more than 300 new employees in the country.

Nearly 100 of them are computer majors, responsible for special effects production, and most of the recruited employees are recent graduates.

The reason why we choose fresh graduates instead of poaching people from the industry on a large scale is mainly because of past experience.

When they were preparing to set up the animation film company, Gu Wei and Song Ge fiddled with it for a long time and spent a lot of energy, and finally discovered a real problem, that is, there were too many veterans and people with ideas in this industry, and it was far less cost-effective and convenient to use newcomers.

Moreover, young people who have just graduated from school still have ideals and passion, and are commonly known as easy to fool.

But no matter how much they deceive people, the treatment at Xingchen Film and Television is obvious to all in the industry. Although you can't work from nine to five, the salary is high.

The state of college students who have just entered the industry: "Don't talk about money, we have ideals."

Status after working for a few years: "Don't talk about ideals, just make more money."

After working for more than ten years: "Give me money and I'll do it for you."

Even in this period of 13, the minimum salary for ordinary newly employed employees is to yuan. Some team leaders and team captains generally earn more than yuan. If they become supervisors, their monthly salary can reach tens of thousands.

If you are really capable and can become a department manager or person in charge, a million-dollar annual salary is not a dream.

It is precisely because of these benefits that the employee turnover rate at Xingchen Film and Television is very low, and some old employees have been working for more than ten years.

"Boss, why don't you recruit a large number of employees in Hollywood?" Reid asked a question in his mind after hesitating for a while.

Today, the Rising Star Film and Television Company is in an awkward situation in Hollywood. Because of the great director Gu Wei, the company's partners are almost all the Big Six in Hollywood.

However, due to the number of employees and the number of films produced, it is a small and medium-sized company in the industry.

As the general manager of Tomorrow Star Films, Ryder feels that he has an obligation to work hard for the development and growth of the company.

"Uh." Hearing this, Gu Wei pretended to think, but he was actually thinking about how to fool the other party. He couldn't say that the one in China's Star Film and Television was the principal wife, and the one in Hollywood was the mistress.

"Ryder, believe me, it will get better."

After saying this, Gu Wei looked into the other person's eyes, sincerely and genuinely.

"Ah."

Then, the two big hands held together!!

In an instant, they separated again...

.........

After the news of the battle between Gu Wei and Lionsgate reached China, there was another uproar in the industry.

"So they're just going to argue right away?"

"There's something interesting to watch, Rise of the Planet of the Apes vs. The Hunger Games 3."

"Director Gu was very friendly with people in China, why did he become so irritable after coming to Hollywood?"

"You know nothing. Director Gu is just bullying others. Other domestic companies should learn from him."

"I really admire Director Gu for this. He is very tough in confronting the Hong Kong industry and Hollywood companies."

When talking about the Hong Kong circle, we have to mention the recent actions of Yang Shoucheng and others.

First, the president of the Hong Kong Film Association, Eric Tsang, was replaced and Patrick Sham became the new president, followed by a major reshuffle of the two associations.

Netizens suddenly discovered that the Hong Kong media, which usually likes to be sarcastic and mocking, suddenly became silent.

Take the confrontation between Gu Wei and Lionsgate this time for example. If it had been in the past, the Hong Kong media would have already started mocking him for overestimating his own capabilities.

But now, the Hong Kong media actually publicly voiced support for Gu Wei and cheered for him.

"My goodness, is this what it means to stand united against the outside world?"

"Stop talking nonsense. I heard that Director Gu has said that if Hong Kong filmmakers try to cause trouble outside, they will no longer cooperate with them."

"The relationship between the two sides is good again? No wonder the cast list recently announced by the crew of "The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain" is mostly composed of Hong Kong stars!"

Speaking of the movie "The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain", I have to say that Director Chen is still so fond of Hong Kong and Taiwan actors.

"The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain" has officially announced the cast list. Except for the protagonist Wang Baoqiang, more than half of the other main actors are from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

However, Chen Hong actually did what she said before, which was to choose a new actress.

This newcomer will act with Wang Baoqiang in "The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain" and have a night of lovemaking.

It is true that she is a new actress, but some careful netizens discovered that she is not a newcomer with no background.

After all, Chen Kai and Zhang Yimou are two people with completely different personalities. And Zhang Yimou is indeed unique in the circle in terms of recruiting newcomers, including Gu Wei and Jiang Wen.

…………

Los Angeles.

After Lionsgate accepted the challenge, Gu Wei became busy.

I even missed Liu Yifei's calls many times.

On one side is the PR reception, on the other side is the filming preparations for "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", and on the other side is the box office of "The Revenant".

As for the caring calls from other people in China, as well as the support and comments from netizens, Gu Wei simply expressed his gratitude on Weibo.

One day, two days, three days...

Socializing, networking, publicity, speeches...

Tens of millions of dollars in public relations expenses also turned into gifts and bills and were rapidly decreasing.

After more than two months of release, the box office of "The Wandering Earth" is currently very stable, decreasing regularly at a rate of tens to hundreds of millions of dollars per week.

As for "The Revenant", the statements made by the two companies attracted more people to the cinema.

In the first week, the box office grossed 3158 million US dollars.

In the second week, it earned $1180 million

In its third week, the box office grossed 1756 million U.S. dollars.

As the total box office of "The Revenant" gradually increases, word of mouth spreads.

Gu Wei received more and more party invitations during the award season and was overwhelmed.

“Boss, as of today, we have held a total of 10 PR parties.

The total number of Academy members who attended the reception reached more than 300. Even if some of them did not come, they all received movie copies and gifts by mail.

We are currently focusing on these people, and we believe that if we can get them, The Revenant will still be very competitive."

Hearing the data reported by Reid, Gu Wei nodded slightly.

More than 300 academy members is not a lot, after all, there are 6,000 to 7,000 members in the entire academy, but it is not a small number either.

Everything is fine with "The Revenant", but I don't know if "Parasite", which cost a lot of money, can be nominated for the Golden Globe Awards.

"Brother, the Golden Globe Awards nominations will be announced tomorrow. Once you are shortlisted, a PR reception will be held. I hope you have no problem with the time."

In front of Reid, Gu Wei called Zhang Yimou.

"Well...well, time has been reserved." Zhang Yimou's voice sounded a little tired on the phone.

"What's wrong? Didn't you sleep well?" Gu Wei asked with concern, fearing that Huanqiu would catch him and use him.

After all, Universal took advantage of the news of Paul Walker's death to promote "Fast and Furious 7" and blatantly took advantage of the situation.

Although Gu Wei is not a saint, he still feels disgusted when he sees what the other party did.

"It's okay. I stayed up all night for a few nights. It's only after coming to Hollywood that I realized that shooting special effects blockbusters is completely different from shooting in China. It takes time to adapt."

There was a rustling noise coming from the opposite side, a bit like the sound of someone getting up and getting dressed.

"Universal has their own filming system, there's no need to be so exhausted."

"That being said, this is my first time shooting a special effects movie, so I don't have much experience."

"When the results come out, we can meet and talk."

"it is good."

.........

the next day.

On December 12, the nominations for the annual American Film and Television Golden Globe Awards were announced.

"7 Years a Slave" directed by Michael McQueen and David Russell's new work "American Hustle" each received seven nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay, leading the way for this year's Golden Globe Awards.

These two films are also hot favorites for this year's Oscars, and the large number of positive reviews have made them the focus of attention.

The two films "12 Years a Slave" and "American Hustle" have recently received unanimous recognition and praise from major American film associations, and they have strong momentum to win awards.

"The Revenant" received five nominations, including Best Director, Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor, second only to these two popular movies.

It is worth mentioning that Leonardo was once again nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his role in "The Wolf of Wall Street".

As for the Best Foreign Language Film, Chinese films "1942", "Man of Tai Chi", "The Grandmaster" and "The Great Ming Dynasty" all failed.

However, Zhang Yimou's "Parasite" was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film!!
On January 1, "Parasite" will compete with "The Wind Rises", an animated film adapted from the manga of the same name by Hayao Miyazaki, the French film "Blue Is the Warmest Color", the Iranian film "Past", the Danish film "The Hunt", the Italian film "The Great Beauty" and other films.

In particular, the film "Blue Is the Warmest Color" won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival. This film will also be a strong rival of "Parasite".

After the news spread back to China, the domestic entertainment industry was in an uproar. After all, this was the first time that two Chinese directors were nominated for the Golden Globe Awards, setting a new record.

"Director Zhang is awesome. I hope Parasite wins the Golden Globe Award."

“The Revenant was also shortlisted, but everyone seems to be used to it, haha.”

"Luckily, 1942 was not selected this year, otherwise it would be a disaster again."

...

"Congratulations, you and Director Zhang have both been nominated. He is not very familiar with the rules of Hollywood, so you have to help him."

"If you need any support, feel free to ask. China Film Group has also made great efforts this time."

"Fuck." The more Gu Wei listened to this, the more he felt something was wrong. His own company had spent so much money on the film, but how come Han Sanping was saying it was almost like China Film's business.

"Mr. Han, how is the military plan going? You are really good." Gu Wei teased directly.

"Haha, I'm just making a suggestion. The main script and filming, including the establishment of the film project, still depends on you."

"Haha, don't involve me. I didn't say I wanted to take a photo." Gu Wei continued to tease.

"Stop pretending. I heard that 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' was launched ahead of schedule. Aren't you preparing for this movie?" Han Sanping, who had seen through everything, retorted.

"I didn't, no, don't talk nonsense." Gu Wei denied it three times in a row.

While the two were chatting, Gu Wei's phone was already filled with congratulatory messages from domestic entertainment stars and filmmakers.

Among them, Liu Yifei's message was the most eye-catching. "The call can't be connected? What are you doing? You have two minutes to call back. Humph."

"Ahem, Mr. Han, I have something urgent to tell you. I'm hanging up now."

"No, let's talk about two cents."

On the other side, Han Sanping looked at the text message on his phone, his mouth corners slightly raised, "Little guy, I can't cure you yet."

Afterwards, Han Sanping took out his phone and sent a message to Liu Yifei, "Yifei, what is Gu Wei busy with? I can't get through to him on the phone. I wonder if he is having too much fun."

.........

(End of this chapter)