Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 711: Universal and Legend’s Plans
outside world.

A large number of media are reporting and speculating. The most important thing now is to find out the purpose of Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures coming to China.

Purpose? Besides collaborating on a new film? Is there any other purpose?
Nonsense, everyone knows there’s a new movie.

But what movie?

Co-production? Hollywood movie?
How much does it cost? 50 million, 80 million, or hundreds of millions? US dollars or RMB?

Is the film led by China or Hollywood? What type? Science fiction, art, or monster mecha works?
China Film did not reveal a single word about everything, so several companies that often cooperated with China Film became the target of those with ulterior motives, especially Star Films, which not only had close relations with China Film, but also had dealings with Universal Pictures.

Especially Gu Wei and Zhang Yimou, who just returned from Hollywood not long ago and might know the inside story.

light.

Wang Changtian’s phone was almost blown up by calls from friends in the circle, and everyone started asking about China Film’s next project.

"Boss Wang, if you have any benefits, don't forget me, your brother. It just so happens that our company has a movie coming out soon. Can we work together?"

"Boss Wang, you have a good relationship with Boss La, don't you have any inside information?"

"Dr. Wang..."

"Wang Wang Wang... Wang your mother's head, I would never tell you if I knew. If you have problems, go to brothers, if not, go to Big Wang, hehe." Wang Changtian was so angry that he laughed at what some people said.

What's more, Wang Changtian really didn't know the inside information. At present, China Film's confidentiality level is very high this time, and there is no news in the circle at all. Even Big Wang feels that he is a little bit unworthy of the nickname of "agent".

When Ye Ning called, Wang Changtian realized that something was wrong. Could it be that China Film Group was going to have the upper hand this time?
"I haven't heard any news at all. This should be a unilateral cooperation between China Film, Legendary and Universal. I just don't know if Director Gu knows about this?" Ye Ning guessed on the phone.

Wang Changtian thought for a while and said, "Director Gu must know about it, but it's hard to say whether he was involved or not. According to my guess, if this co-production is led by the Chinese side, China Film will definitely invite a big domestic director to direct it, and maybe Director Gu will be one of them."

"Director Gu has already decided on his next movie. I don't think that's possible," Ye Ning retorted.

"It's useless to guess blindly. I'll call Director Gu to ask if he has any inside information."

...

Hong Kong Island, the crew of "Lost in Hong Kong".

Jingtian just finished filming the TV series "The Legend of Da Yuer" at the beginning of the month and just joined the crew in the past two days.

She played "Yang Yi" in "Lost in Hong Kong" and had related scenes with Xu Zheng, Wang Baoqiang and Huang Bo.

Xu Zheng originally wanted to invite Du Juan to play this role, as she had a cool and glamorous beauty in "Chinese Partners", which was very consistent with the character setting.

However, Lu Zheng and Ye Ning used their financial strength to promise Xu Zheng and others to increase the screening rate of "Lost in Hong Kong" when it was released. So Jing Tian directly got the role. Although she didn't have many scenes, considering that there were not many female characters in the "Lost in Hong Kong" series, this role was already considered the heroine.

"Click."

After a set of scenes was shot, the weather in Hong Kong Island was much hotter than in the mainland. At this moment, Jing Tian was putting on makeup in the studio, while Xu Zheng was explaining the scenes beside him.

"Ding ding ding." The bell rang, Xu Zheng's voice paused, and everyone's eyes were looking around for the source of the sound.

"Excuse me, Director Xu, can I take a call?" Jing Tian said weakly with an apologetic smile.

The call was from Lu Zheng. He wouldn't have chosen this time if it wasn't something important. Jing Tian hesitated for a while but still decided to answer the call.

"Yeah." Xu Zheng nodded expressionlessly, Huang Bo looked at Jing Tian thoughtfully, and Wang Baoqiang was still smiling.

"Hello, Uncle Lu." Jing Tian answered the phone and walked into the RV.

"Tiantian, ask Director Xu for two days off in a few days. We need you to come back for something." Lu Zheng's voice rang out.

"Ah, I've only been in the team for less than two days and I'm already asking for leave. That's not good." Jingtian blinked his big eyes, and his long eyelashes fluttered up and down.

"There's a big news. China Film Group and a big Hollywood company have a new project. I plan to take you to meet Director La to see if you can get a role." Lu Zheng continued.

"Uncle Lu, isn't Director Gu also going to release a new movie? Will it have any impact?"

Thanks to the efforts of Lu Zheng, Ye Ning, and Ning Hao, Gu Wei has agreed to let Jing Tian play a supporting role in the next movie, and the part will not be small.

Jing Tian’s mind is now full of Gu Wei’s new movie. He was absent-minded when filming "Lost in Hong Kong" these two days and was glared at by Xu Zheng many times.

"It's okay. You don't have many scenes in Director Gu's movie. This time I plan to let you compete for the leading actress in this co-production..."

Because of her background, Jing Tian is considered one of the few pure-minded female artists in the entertainment industry. After hearing that it would not affect her, she agreed without asking any further questions.

Shiba Culture Company.

The same scene was happening. Bai Baihe, Ren Quan and others kept receiving calls from friends in the circle. Everyone had basically the same purpose, which was to find out the specific information about the cooperation between China Film and Legendary and Universal Pictures.

The answers obtained were basically the same, Ren Quan and others were not clear about China Film's projects.

However, the news that Star Films and DreamWorks continue to cooperate in the development of the "Minions series" and that mainland artists may serve as the dubbing actors for the leading roles was revealed by some individuals.

The prospects for Hollywood animated films have been getting better and better in the past two years. Now everyone in the domestic entertainment industry feels that being a voice actor is worse than starring in a Hollywood blockbuster.

After all, even big stars like Li Binbin and Fan Binbin can only make cameo appearances in Hollywood blockbusters. If we really talk about international influence, they are no match for Liu Yifei's dubbing performance in "Frozen 2".

Hollywood media has now used "Snow White from the East" to describe Liu Yifei, and the New York Times even wrote a special report with the title "International Superstar from the East".

The content analyzes how Liu Yifei rose step by step, and finally calls on major Hollywood companies to invite Liu Yifei to star in more Hollywood blockbusters.

After all, several Hollywood blockbusters in which she had participated had all achieved box office success. Not to mention, just because of this report, Universal, Paramount and other companies have already extended invitations to Liu Yifei.

Universal wants her to play the heroine in "Fast and Furious 8", and Paramount even wants to create a science fiction blockbuster just for her.

China Film.

La Pekang met with people from Legendary and Universal Pictures. After the two sides exchanged greetings, the vice president of Universal took out the script of "The Great Wall".

After watching the film, La Peikang felt that it had great potential. It had elements of science fiction and monsters, as well as Eastern art of war. He believed that the film had all the ingredients to be a box office hit.

The vice president from Universal Pictures was Matt Reichuang, and the vice president from Legendary was Thomas Tull. After seeing La Pekang finish reading the script, the two of them got straight to the point.

"From Hollywood, we plan to invite international superstar Matt Damon to join us and play the leading male role. From China, we also hope to invite stars of similar caliber to join us..." Matt Lai Chuang had just opened his mouth when La Peikang felt that this was not going to be easy.

Are there any mainland artists with the same status as Matt Damon? How many are there in China? La Peikang's first reaction is Liu Yifei, followed by Zhang Ziyi, and then Li Binbin, Fan Binbin and others.

"Our target is Crystal."

Sure enough, La Peikang was not surprised at all when he heard Liu Yifei's name. Perhaps the other party came here just for Liu Yifei.

"China Film Corporation has invited Liu Yifei, but I don't think her chances are high. After all, her wedding with Director Gu is at the end of the year, and she probably won't be starring in any movies in the near future," La Peikang said with a smile.

"Okay." The vice president of Universal spread his hands, but he still had hope. After all, the nature of China Film was there, and maybe it would succeed.

As for Zhang Ziyi, Li Binbin, Fan Binbin and others mentioned by La Peikang, the two vice presidents shook their heads.

Needless to say, Zhang Ziyi, despite being known as "International Zhang", has starred in a few movies that have not had high box office success.

As for someone like Binbin, the two said they had never heard of him. However, Thomas Tull mentioned Jingtian and said that his performances in "The Forbidden Kingdom" and "Overseas Pacific 2" were quite good.

La Peikang nodded, but he disagreed in his heart. Jingtian was well-known in China, but his acting skills had always been criticized.

Since it is a big production, everything from cost, actors, shooting location to the selection of director are not trivial matters.

The reason why these big Hollywood companies are so enthusiastic about cooperating with China Film is not only because the North American market has been sluggish in the past two years, but also because the development of Hollywood blockbusters has reached a bottleneck.

Looking back to the 90s and 00s, any movie with the word "Hollywood" in its name would have no problem with box office success. At that time, Hollywood represented "high-end".

From 00 to 05, Hollywood continued to innovate and produced a series of blockbuster films. Among them, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" in 03 became the third blockbuster in the world to gross over $ billion.

From 06 to 10, Hollywood blockbusters continued to be released. Avatar in 09 ushered in the 3D era, and Interstellar was a classic. Then in 11 and 12, 2012 created a global box office of over billion US dollars, which has not been broken so far.

However, from last year to now, Hollywood has fallen into a vicious circle, that is, the investment in special effects blockbusters has increased, but the box office revenue has decreased.

Many North American media analyzed that this is because Hollywood special effects movies have hit a development bottleneck. Many movies lack innovation and are just rehashing old stuff, causing audiences to get tired of watching them and no longer buy in.

The most intuitive manifestation is that two or three years ago, many audiences would go to the cinema to watch one or two movies a week, but now they would only go once every one or two months, and this trend may change to once every three months, half a year, or even a year in the future.

Audiences and netizens generally responded in film forums that there are currently no particularly amazing movies worth watching.

To sum it up, it can be summed up in one sentence: "The classics are no longer here!"

In the conference room.

The two sides discussed the issue of just one actor for more than an hour. Seeing that the other party seemed a little tired, La Peikang smiled and said that this was the end of the discussion for today. Everyone should take a break first and continue the discussion tomorrow if there were any issues.

The vice presidents of Universal and Legendary did not refuse. The reason why they were so eager to come to China Film Group as soon as they arrived in China was to make a gesture.

After all, the "relevant departments" in the mainland are very procrastinating. If a movie is prepared for one or two years without any progress, Universal and Legendary don't have so much time to wait.

After the two parties separated, the Universal and Legendary people went straight to the hotel where they were staying. After resting for a while, the Universal vice president called the assistant who was accompanying him.

"Do you know where Xingchen Film and Television Company is?" Matt Laichuang asked while leaning back on the sofa and smoking a cigar.

"Boss, I know."

"Well, go make an appointment. I hope to meet and talk with the other party."

"no problem."

Next room.

"Contact Gu, I want to talk to him in person." Legendary Vice President Matt Lai Chuang, who had just finished a shower and was wrapped in a bath towel, said.

"Okay, Boss!"

The goal of both parties is the same, which is to come for Gu Wei and Liu Yifei. In the eyes of Legendary and Universal, or in the eyes of big Hollywood companies, there are only a few people in the Chinese film and television industry who are worthy of their attention.

As for the top five directors mentioned in the mainland film and television circles, many Hollywood investors do not recognize them. Without solid achievements, who will care who you are?
.........

The film and television industry is already in an uproar, with people from China Film Group picking up the Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures teams at the airport.

Gu Wei didn't pay much attention to these things. He was currently watching "Swallowed Star" with all the DreamWorks staff.

It has to be said that although "Devouring the Stars" is not a 3D version, the technology it displays is still the pinnacle of domestic animation production.

The person in charge of DreamWorks was even a little confused. Although DreamWorks had supported the other party with a group of engineers, looking at the beautiful pictures, he still felt that the other party learned too fast.

In particular, some of the technologies are no less than DreamWorks. The Chinese people's learning ability is amazing.

In the screening room, everyone at DreamWorks was completely immersed in it...

"Devoured Planet" may not be able to compare with "Despicable Me 3" and "Frozen 2" in terms of technology, but its story content is much better than the latter two.

To be honest, whether it is the "Despicable Me" series or the "Frozen" series, most audiences are looking for something new. If we really talk about the level of excitement, foreign animated films are a bit childish.

This can be seen from the fact that domestic online novels in the original time and space were popular in North America and Europe, especially the book "Panlong", which was regarded as a classic by many foreigners.

The story of "Swallowed Star" is also extremely exciting. Whether it is the background of Nirvana or the concept of breaking out of the earth, it shocked these foreigners.

"Gu, did you write the script for this movie?"

It’s no wonder that the DreamWorks executives asked this question. After all, Gu Wei was first known as a screenwriter in Hollywood.

"No, this novel was written by a very talented writer. We just bought the rights for film and television adaptation." Gu Wei said with a smile, turned his head to look at the other party, and continued: "And this is only less than one-fifth of the content. The rest is even more exciting."

"My God, this is a writer with amazing imagination. To be honest, this movie should be released in North America. I think many audiences will love it." Sean, the head of DreamWorks, exclaimed.

"For the first one we are just trying it out, and for the second one we plan to make a 3D version, which will then be presented to North American audiences."

"Devouring the Starry Sky 2" starts from the training in Yuxiang Mountain and ends in the Xueluo World, of which the Xueluo World directly occupies most of the content. Gu Wei has read the adapted script, which is also very exciting.

With a wonderful story and 3D special effects, Gu Wei believes that it will bring constant shock to foreigners.

On the big screen in the screening room, the battle of geniuses had reached its end, which was also the climax of the second half. Sean watched it intently, and made sounds of admiration from time to time.

At this moment, Gu Wei's cell phone vibrated. He picked it up and saw that it was Lao Wang calling. He hung up. He didn't have time to chat with the other party.

The movie lasted more than an hour and ended very quickly.

In the following time, Gu Wei took them to visit the animation film production department.

Looking at the large number of well-organized staff, Sean's words of praise seemed to flow out without any cost.

Gu Wei was tired of hearing these compliments. No matter how nice the compliments were, they could not change the gap between Star Animation and DreamWorks or Disney.

Finding a way to catch up with or even surpass the opponent is what Gu Wei is most concerned about. Although the process will not be easy, it is not so difficult that he has to give up.

After watching movies and visiting for more than three hours, and seeing off the DreamWorks people, Gu Wei felt a little tired.

When I got back to the office and picked up my phone, I was shocked to see that there were over 20 missed calls, almost all from CEOs of film and television companies and friends in the industry.

Gu Wei knew very well the purpose of this group of people, but he did not participate in this co-production with China Film Group. He only heard the general information from Zhang Yimou and was not clear about the specific details.

...

"They've all been sent away." Gu Wei asked after taking a sip of tea when he saw Song Ge coming in.

"Okay, arrange someone to take them over." Song Ge was also very tired. This group of people had a lot of questions, and some of them had to be answered carefully. It was really tiring.

"It seems that DreamWorks recognizes our strength at the moment." After a short break, Song Ge said leisurely.

"It's hard to say. You can't think you can do it just because the other party praises you. When it comes to animation technology, especially high-end technology, there is still a gap." Gu Wei was not so optimistic. Instead, he was wary of the other party's attitude.

"Well, I understand. We should learn from the foreigners to defeat them. If we keep working hard, we will be able to surpass them sooner or later." Song Ge nodded.

While the two were chatting, the assistant knocked on the door and said, "Chairman, Mr. Song, the vice presidents of Legend and Universal have sent someone to make an appointment and want to meet you in person."

Hearing this, Song Ge raised his eyebrows. It was unlikely that he would have the opportunity to participate in that co-production with China Film.

Gu Wei's reaction was that he thought the other party might be here for Zhang Yimou and Matt Damon, and he also didn't want to participate in the investment of "The Great Wall".

"Haha, send them a few invitations and invite them to attend tomorrow's premiere. As for the private meeting, let's talk about it in a few days." Gu Wei turned his head and instructed the assistant with a smile.

"Okay, Chairman."

Looking at the assistant who was leaving, Song Ge didn't understand the meaning of his boss's actions.

"Director Gu, don't you plan to invest in this co-production?" Song Ge asked curiously.

"No." Gu Wei shook his head.

Upon learning that both Legendary and Universal had sent vice presidents to China, Gu Wei saw the other party's importance. This made him wonder if Zhang Yimou would be able to successfully change the script if he directed "The Great Wall"?
"What a pity." Song Ge sighed.

"Not a pity." Gu Wei replied indifferently.

.........

(End of this chapter)