Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 657 Voluntary and Involuntary
New year and a new look.

Just after the second day of the Chinese New Year, the entertainment industry became lively.

The three big-budget domestic films that were released are still reaping the box office, with the three films taking in nearly 200 million yuan a day.

The movie market has almost been divided up by a few movies released on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and "A Chinese Odyssey", which sounds like a bad movie, was also released at this time, which seems tantamount to a suicide.

The low-budget movies produced by Huayi are still surviving in the cracks, but the average daily box office has increased.

The number of calls to Gu Wei also increased, most of which were to arrange for dinner, and some were to discuss cooperation.

I rejected most of the invitations, but it was difficult to refuse the invitations from Han Sanping, Wang Changtian and others.

After thinking about it, Gu Wei decided to organize the party himself and invite Ye Ning and the others to come along, so that they wouldn't have to attend the banquet one by one later.

They called everyone one by one and made arrangements to get together on the third night of the Chinese New Year. Originally, Gu Wei planned to arrange for the two families to have dinner together on the third night, but Miss Liu planned to invite her father to join them. After all, it was a big event, and Gu's father and mother also wanted to meet everyone together. As a result, the time had to be postponed.

After discussing with Liu Yifei, Gu Wei decided to meet on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, which was also an auspicious date.

……

It's only the third day of the Spring Festival and many people are still enjoying the holiday.

But the situation is different in the film and television industry. Some crews have already started filming, and these are two movies with considerable influence.

"Produced by Xiaoma Pentium and starring Eddie Peng, Ni Yi and others, the youth romance film "Fleeting Time" officially started shooting today."

However, most people in the industry are still paying attention to Brother Chen Kai.

"The opening ceremony of the Republic of China fantasy martial arts film "The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain", directed by Chen Kaige and starring Wang Baoqiang, Guo Fucheng, Zhang Zhen, Fan Wei, and Lin Zhiling, was held in Jinyun Xiandu in the morning."

“It is reported that “The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain” is director Chen Kaige’s first martial arts film, which is worth looking forward to!”

If someone else's movie started shooting, it might not have such a big influence, but it's different for Brother Chen Kai.

Although it has been on a downward trend for many years, the three words "Brother Chen Kai" still carry a lot of weight.

Even Gu Wei liked Chen Hong's Weibo post. After all, all the big directors in the industry had sent their blessings, and since the other party had taken the initiative to show goodwill at Weibo Night, he couldn't pretend not to see it.

Subsequently, Xingchen Film and Television also released several latest news.

"Jointly produced by Xingchen Films, Wanda Films, and Enlight Media, and adapted from the online novel of the same name, "Swallowed Starry Sky", it is scheduled to be released on May 1st."

"It is reported that this film is the first large-scale animated film in the country and is highly anticipated by fans."

"Jointly produced by Xingchen Films, China Film Group, Xi'an Film Group, Guangguang, Wanda, etc., directed by Wu Ershan, and starring Huang Xiaoming and Zhou Xun, "Painted Skin 3" will start shooting on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year..."

"Xingchen Films will join forces with the Happy Twist team to invest 30 million to shoot the comedy film "Charlotte's Troubles", with Shen Teng, Ma Li and others as the main characters."

"The low-budget comedy film "Charlotte's Troubles" will start filming in early March and is currently in preparation..."

The consecutive release of several pieces of news made the media reporters both happy and worried. There was too much material and the reporters could not report it all.

But no matter how much material there is, it cannot compare to what happened before the Spring Festival. Gu Wei sold off Huayi Company's stocks in order to suppress Korean artists and resist the continued invasion of Korean wave into the domestic entertainment industry.

However, Gu Wei has never responded positively to this matter, and reporters can only try their best to interview Gu Wei positively.

However, Xingchen Film and Television Company still used the excuse of being on holiday to reject all interview requests.

……

On the evening of the third day of the Lunar New Year, at the agreed time, Gu Wei and Song Ge went directly to the appointed place together.

As soon as he arrived, Gu Wei found that Han Sanping had arrived early. It seemed that after resigning from China Film Group, Han Sanping was no longer the last boss to arrive at dinner or parties.

"Happy New Year, Mr. Han!"

"Happy New Year, Mr. Wang, Mr. Ye, and Mr. Yu."

After entering the private room, Gu Wei and Liu Yifei greeted everyone with a smile.

"Happy New Year, Director Gu, President Song."

"Director Gu, please sit here. The seat is reserved for you." Wang Changtian arranged the seats with a smile.

At the dinner table, everyone was chatting enthusiastically, and the topic turned to movies.

"Director Gu, I heard that the movie 'New World' was too explicit and its release was postponed?"

Among the crowd, Wang Changtian was obviously the more gossipy. He heard the news from somewhere and asked directly to people’s faces whether it was true or not.

Talking about this, Gu Wei feels that he should take the blame himself. He wrote the script himself. At that time, he thought that South Korea had a rating system, so it was okay to be bold. However, the director that Xijie found was too bold. As a result, some shots had to be deleted and the release was postponed.

"Well, we gave the script to CJ because we saw that South Korea has a ratings system. We didn't expect that it would be cut in the end." Gu Wei said with regret, then took a bite of food and continued, "If I had known, I would have taken it to Hollywood to shoot. After such cuts, there will definitely be flaws."

"Is this script so good?" Wang Changtian continued to ask. "Didn't they say there were no restrictions on South Korean themes? Why did they cut it?" Ye Ning also asked curiously.

"The script is really good, the story is like this..." Gu Wei roughly recounted it while eating. Compared with the original time and space, Gu Wei's script was more daring, involving South Korean conglomerates, the Blue House, etc.

"No wonder it failed the mainland censorship. Even if this subject matter was set in Hong Kong Island today, it probably couldn't be filmed." Ye Ning finally understood after listening.

"So if it's taken to Hollywood, will it be approved?" Song Ge asked after listening to the entire script for the first time and taking a sip of wine.

"It will definitely pass, but I don't think the film will taste right. After all, there are differences between Eastern and Western cultures, including the gangs. There is a mafia culture over there, which is quite different from our Southeast Asian culture."

No one expected that the cultural differences between the East and the West would also be reflected in this area. This is the first time I have heard of this point of view, and it is quite novel.

After chatting for a while, Ye Ning mentioned the rumor in the circle before the Spring Festival that Gu Wei privately called Feng Xiaogang and hoped that the other party would replace the South Korean artist.

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Changtian and Yu Dong also looked over. Bona and Guangxian also have plans to cooperate with South Korean entertainment companies on subsequent projects and are paying more attention to this area.

"That's true. As you can see, the person was not replaced. It seems that I don't have enough face, haha." Gu Wei joked to himself.

“So Director Gu, you directly sold Huayi’s stocks for the second time?” Yu Dong said directly.

"Well, since those two brothers are ignorant, there is no need for me to be polite. Huayi is not worth mentioning."

Yu Dong felt uncomfortable after hearing this. Unknowingly, Gu Wei had grown to this point. The number one film and television company in the mainland was not worth mentioning in his eyes. What about his own blog?
Wang Changtian kept smiling, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Ye Ning looked indifferent. Wanda Pictures was backed by real estate and had strong financial resources. The film sector was just one of the company's businesses. Moreover, he and Gu Wei had been working together for so many years and had never thought of breaking up.

Han Sanping showed a gratified expression. From the "Golden Rooster Incident" that year to now, Gu Wei has become a person who does not need shelter. Maybe he will need more support from the other party in the future.

Thinking of this, Han Sanping took the initiative to speak, "So what are you going to do? Everyone here today is not an outsider. If you have any ideas, just say it directly."

"Yes, Director Gu, tell me about it." Wang Changtian agreed. Xingchen Film and Television Company was too powerful, and he had already made up his mind to keep holding on to it. He had no intention of going against the other party.

"My idea is that we can't continue to allow Korean culture to continue to invade. The best way is for the General Administration to increase its review, and for companies in our industry to reduce the use of South Korean artists, or even stop using them altogether."

"Huayi Company took the lead in introducing the South Korean Alliance, and now we can also jointly boycott the South Korean Alliance..."

Gu Wei expressed his thoughts. This kind of thing requires everyone to work together. As long as Star Films, Bona, Wanda, and Guangxian jointly release the news, many small companies in the industry will naturally choose to follow suit.

"Director Gu, you still have a company in South Korea. Why do this?"

"Don't worry. The South Korean market isn't that big. If it doesn't work out, just give up. It doesn't matter."

Hearing that Gu Wei was willing to give up his own interests to do this, everyone nodded unconsciously. This news could indeed play a leading role if it were spread.

"There is a question. The prevalence of Korean culture is the result of market selection, and it is also the choice of netizens and fans. Can we really make it happen by forceful intervention?" Wang Changtian raised the question.

"I have thought about this too. The popularity of Korean culture is due to the support of fans and the hype of mainland media.

In this case, we should reduce the exposure rate of South Korean artists while increasing the appearance rate of our local artists.

As long as the General Administration reduces the number of South Korean films and TV dramas imported, and we produce more high-quality films and TV dramas that promote local culture, changes will happen in no time.”

"I heard that artists in South Korea are playthings of chaebols. I think we can increase exposure in this regard. Celebrity artists mostly rely on their personalities. Once that collapses, the backlash will be even more serious." Wang Changtian suggested with a smile.

"Isn't it like this in the entertainment circles both at home and abroad?" Ye Ning asked back, thinking that the suggestion was average.

"Mr. Ye, this is different. In China, it's about mutual consent, while in South Korea, it's about control to death. There's a big gap." At this point, Wang Changtian raised his eyebrows at Ye Ning.

As soon as the words fell, everyone laughed.

Of course, this matter cannot be decided immediately at a dinner party, and Gu Wei will be going to Hollywood in a few days, so the rest of the matters will be handled by Song Ge.

.........

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the first day box office figures for the parent-child reality show "Where Are We Going, Dad?", jointly produced by Tianyu Media, Blue Flame and Light Media, were released.

The movie's first-day box office was as high as 9000 million, which made people in the industry feel unreal. Many people couldn't understand how such a shoddy film could have such good data.

From beginning to end, it only took 5 days to shoot. It is even more of a fan movie than a fan movie. It is just bringing the variety show to the big screen to reap the profits!

But it can trigger a movie-watching craze across the country, and even the box office is booming, completely conquering movie theaters in big box office cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as second- and third-tier cities.

The box office was high, but the word of mouth for the film was utterly terrible.

Many people in the film industry have been verbally abusing Mango TV, which is simply an evil trend and an insult to "movies".

Gu Wei just smiled after seeing the news. "Where Are We Going, Dad?" has indeed set a precedent for variety show movies to make money.

The later movie versions of "Running Man" and "Go Fighting" in the original time and space were all imitations of this movie, and the results were all bad movies without exception.

.........

(End of this chapter)