Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 786 Mr. Ye’s Show-off
The average temperature in Los Angeles at the end of February is around 16℃, neither high nor low.

The day that Gu Wei and his team set out happened to be the first day that "Frozen 2" was released.

Even though many big names came to the movie premiere because of Gu Wei's reputation, the final decision on the box office still depends on Disney Pictures.

After all, the six major Hollywood studios each have their own distribution and theater channels, and they are the ones who can decide the upper limit of theaters in which the film will eventually be opened.

At the gate of Los Angeles International Airport, Liu Yifei, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon were each being interviewed.

Gu Wei received a call from Reid, "Boss, according to the data sent by Disney, Frozen 2 opened in about 4000 theaters, and the attendance rate is very high so far."

4000, Gu Wei had an idea of ​​it. This number was slightly lower than that of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", but it was completely enough for an animated film.

After all, in the original time and space, when "Frozen 2" was released in 19, there were only more than 4600 theaters.

The two chatted for more than ten minutes. After Gu Wei hung up the phone, the interview with Liu Yifei and others also came to an end.

"Gu, let's take a photo together?"

Leonardo suggested after seeing Gu Wei striding past.

"Very good advice, this is a moment worth remembering," Megan Fox agreed with a smile.

Gu Wei naturally had no objection to this.

However, when taking the photo, Miss Liu still used the "scissor hand" that she is very good at.

That afternoon, dozens of media outlets, including the Los Angeles Entertainment News, the New York Film News, and the Washington Daily News, used this group photo as their cover headlines.

.........

domestic.

On the last day of February, China Film announced the release dates of several films that had just been confirmed in the first half of the year.

"Frozen 2, an animated film adapted from Snow White and co-produced by Tomorrow Star Pictures and Disney and directed by Chris Buck, will be released in China on March 3."

"The Hollywood blockbuster "The Hunger Games 3" produced by Lionsgate and starring Jennifer is scheduled to be released in mainland China on April 4st!"

"Produced by Huayi Film Company and starring Huang Xiaoming and Yang Ying, "Silent Separation" is scheduled to be released on April 4th."

"Painted Skin 3," co-produced by Xingchen Films, China Film Group, Xi'an Film Group, Guangguang Film Group, and Wanda Film Group, directed by Wu Ershan, and starring Huang Xiaoming and Zhou Xun, will be released on May 5."

"The sci-fi blockbuster "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", jointly produced by Warner and Tomorrow Star Pictures and directed by Oscar-winning director Gu Wei, adapted from the "Planet of the Apes" series, will be released in China on June 6st!"

As "The Hunger Games 3" lost the competition with "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" in North America, this movie was introduced into China more than a month later than the original time and space.

However, the release dates of five consecutive domestic and foreign major productions have still made netizens extremely excited.

But Huayi was speechless. The film had just finished shooting two days ago. Wang Zhonglei personally went to the scene and announced in a high-profile manner that "Silent Separation" would be released at the end of April, just for the May Day period.

But I didn't expect that China Film Corporation would come up with a big one without any fanfare and directly release "Painted Skin 3" on May Day.

Now Huayi is caught in a dilemma, with wolves in front and tigers behind.

If they change the release date directly, not to mention that there will be more imported films in the second half of the year, just avoiding "Painted Skin 3" by Star Film and Television Company without saying a word may cause any trouble.

But if he has to release it anyway, Wang Zhonglei really has no confidence that "Fall in Love with You" can compete with "Painted Skin 3".

After much deliberation, Huayi Company decided not to change the release date. After all, the first two films in the "Painted Skin" series had good box office results, but no one can predict how the third film will perform. After all, both films are starred by Huang Xiaoming. Maybe "Fall in Love with You" can create a miracle. You have to know that the main force in the mainland market today is young people.

Romance movies have always been a favorite subject among young people, and the recently released "Somewhere Only We Know" is a typical example.

Wang Zhonglei even privately imagined that if "Fall in Love with You" surpassed "Painted Skin 3" at the box office, the company's stock price would definitely rise.

Subsequently, Huayi Company announced publicly that it would compete openly with "Painted Skin 3" to decide who would be the box office champion during the May Day period.

……

Outside the Capital Airport, a group of entertainment reporters were chatting about the announcement made by Huayi Film Company regarding “Silent Separation” early in the morning.

From time to time, they take another look at the direction of the airport exit to confirm if there are any missed celebrities or news materials.

At this time, the flight from Los Angeles had just landed, and all passengers were getting off the plane one after another.

According to official data released by the capital, the annual passenger throughput of Beijing Capital International Airport last year reached more than 70 million.

But when this group of people appeared, they instantly attracted the attention of passers-by.

This group of people included both men and women with different skin colors, and there were as many as thirty or forty of them. They walked towards the airport exit passage in a very conspicuous manner.

After taking a closer look, who else could it be but Gu Wei and the others?

Many passengers recognized Liu Yifei, who was walking in the front, although she was wearing a mask and wrapped herself up tightly.

With the appearance of Liu Yifei, it is self-evident who the other people around her are.

"It's Liu Yifei, look!"

"Leonardo, Matt Damon...are they returning home on this flight?"

Faced with the crowds holding their mobile phones and either stopping or chasing, Liu Yifei, Matt Damon, Leonardo and others stopped to sign autographs several times.

Instead, Gu Wei was directly ignored. He was now standing behind the bodyguards, watching the lively scene happily.

"thanks, thanks……"

"Thank you, thank you..."

After pausing seven or eight times, Liu Yifei, Leonardo, Matt Damon and others fully felt the warm hospitality of the people of the capital.

Seeing the crowd gathering more and more, the few of them could only nod their heads and decline politely, and then the group quickened their pace.

But the moment they walked out of the passage, they were immediately caught by the reporters who had been waiting for a long time.

"Look, it's Director Gu and Yifei..."

"Matt Damon, Leonardo..."

"And Denzel Washington, Megan Fox...are also here..."

"Wow, everyone is here. The hours of waiting were not in vain."

……

The news that Gu Wei and Liu Yifei returned to China spread in the circle in just half an hour.

Various interviews about the Capital Airport were naturally also placed high on the list.

"Around ten o'clock in the morning, many Hollywood stars including Director Gu Wei, Liu Yifei, Matt Damon, Leonardo, Denzel Washington, Megan Fox, Emma Stone, etc. landed at the Capital Airport..." "Leonardo and Denzel Washington were interviewed and said frankly that they came to China in advance to prepare for the next training of "The Battle of Nantianmen"..."

"Emma Stone, Megan Fox and others said that in order to perform well in Director Gu Wei's latest film, they will participate in the entire pre-production training..."

...

After returning, Gu Wei arranged for Leonardo DiCaprio and Denzel Washington to go to the hotel to rest, but he did not choose to rest. He drove to Wanda's film and television base that afternoon.

After all, Gu Wei has never been to the scene since Ye Ning said the studio was completed a year ago. Now the training for "Battle of Nantianmen" is about to begin, and if the venue is not ready yet, it would be a blind job!

"Director Gu, this is Wanda's largest studio, with an area of ​​5,000 square meters. Should it be enough?"

The project manager introduced it carefully. After all, the fact that "The Battle of Nantianmen" could be filmed at Wanda's film and television base was a self-evident blessing for Wanda Pictures, and the whole company could not help but pay attention to it.

"Yeah." Gu Wei nodded. After a round of inspection, he found that except for some software equipment that was still being installed, there was no problem with the hardware.

"Mr. Ye, Xingchen Film and Television will ship a batch of filming equipment over here before the end of the month. You can put them there then." Gu Wei said, pointing to several large offices in the corner of the studio not far away.

"No problem." Ye Ning nodded, then looked at the staff next to him and said, "I think everyone heard what Director Gu said."

"Understood, Mr. Ye!"

There was a sudden response from behind.

Throughout the afternoon, Gu Wei went through the film and television base from beginning to end. If he found any loopholes in the process, he would naturally point them out to Ye Ning as soon as possible.

Ye Ning naturally relied on Wanda for everything. After all, the first domestic military science fiction blockbuster was shot under Wanda's banner, which brought huge benefits to Wanda Pictures.

Around five in the afternoon, Gu Wei was invited by Ye Ning to Wanda Pictures, and the two talked about some details that needed to be paid attention to during the filming.

During the period, Ye Ning frequently mentioned several Hollywood blockbusters recently produced by Tomorrow Star Films, and his envy was self-evident.

Then, Ye Ning didn't know whether he just said it casually or intentionally showed off that Wanda was also in frequent contact with major Hollywood companies.

"Maybe in the near future we can continue to cooperate in Hollywood, haha."

Hearing this, Gu Wei instantly understood that it seemed that Wanda had already contacted Legendary Pictures privately.

But in the original time and space, Legendary Pictures went bankrupt because of the box office failures of its consecutive investments in blockbusters such as "The Great Wall".

But now with Gu Wei's intervention, "The Great Wall" may be a box office hit after its release. With this in mind, Wanda may not be able to successfully acquire a stake in Legendary.

To take a step back, even if Wanda can successfully acquire a stake in Legendary, the price will be much higher.

Recalling this in his mind, Gu Wei suddenly asked, "Legendary Pictures?"

Ye Ning was suddenly startled, looked at Gu Wei in disbelief, then smiled awkwardly and said, "Director Gu is really well-informed!"

"Oh!" Gu Wei sighed slightly. Hearing the other party's affirmative answer, he suddenly didn't know what to say.

Persuading Wanda to give up its stake in Legendary Pictures? Maybe the other party would think that Gu Wei deliberately did not want Wanda Pictures to enter Hollywood in order to maintain his dominant position in Hollywood.

As for support, Gu Wei really couldn't say it. He couldn't just watch his partners spend billions of dollars, go to Hollywood for several years and accomplish nothing, and finally return home in disgrace?
You have to know that this is not a small amount of money. Nearly 4 billion US dollars is equivalent to more than 20 billion RMB, which is enough to shoot many Hollywood A-level productions.

At this moment, Ye Ning's mind was full of thoughts. He was a little confused about what the constantly changing and tangled expressions on Gu Wei's face meant.

"How is AMC operating now?" The two were silent for a while, and Gu Wei changed the subject.

"Hmm? Not bad... not bad, haha."

Even though Ye Ning concealed it well, judging from the expression on the other's face, Gu Wei already knew what was going on.

The conversation between the two ended here, and Gu Wei did not continue asking. Today he accidentally learned that Wanda was making a big move in private. Due to limited time, he did not have any good ideas.

To be honest, Gu Wei didn't want to see Wanda excitedly take billions of dollars to invest in Hollywood, only to end up with huge losses.

But if you want to stop this proposal, you definitely cannot do so without corresponding resources.

Thinking of this, Gu Wei felt that he should talk to Song Ge about this matter. After all, the other party has been in the circle for so many years and has sufficient experience in this area.

.........

When it comes to the sequels of the current big IPs in the domestic entertainment industry, the "Painted Skin" and "Knife of the Assassin" series produced by Xingchen Film and Television Company are naturally indispensable.

Especially the "Blade of the Assassin" series, which is one of the few remaining martial arts movies in the domestic entertainment industry today.

The reason why it is said to be a martial arts movie is naturally because these two "Blade of the Assassin" films cannot be considered as martial arts movies in the traditional sense.

After all, when a culture and sentiment is ridiculed and deconstructed, it means that it is on the decline.

Martial arts culture swept the Chinese world half a century ago, but in the last decade, it has come to an inevitable and rapid end.

When it comes to the decline of Jianghu heroes and martial arts movies, Gu Wei feels there are many reasons.

There are reasons of market elimination, and also factors such as the aging of the men and women who play the heroes.

The style of Xingchen Film and Television's version of "Knife of the Assassin 2" is mixed with too many court struggles, and in the eyes of pure martial arts fans, it has deviated from the track of martial arts films.

But on the other hand, there is nothing that Lu Yang can do about it, as he wrote the script and filmed it this way.

After all, in today's world where the spirit of chivalry is dying, trying to create a chivalrous hero with great righteousness is obviously a thankless task.

You have to know that the market determines everything. Maybe one day in the future, martial arts movies can shine again, but judging from the current market trends, it is definitely not now.

The first day of March.

"Knife Identity 2", which has attracted much attention since its filming, has finally announced its release date.

However, this schedule surprised many people in the circle.

“Reposted from the official Weibo of Xingchen Film and Television Company: Produced by Xingchen Film and Television Company, directed by Lu Yang, starring Zhao Wenzhuo, Su Chang, Wu Jing, Lei Jiayin, Xin Zhilei, Jin Shijie and others.

The second part of the ancient martial arts series "Embroidered Spring Blade" "Embroidered Spring Blade 2: Shura Battlefield" is scheduled to be released on July 7th! "

As soon as the announcement came out, the media naturally turned their attention to the two directors Lu Yang and Chen Kaige.

People in the industry remember clearly that just a few days ago, director Chen Da's first Republic of China martial arts film "The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain" was directly and high-profile scheduled for release on July 7.

Although there is more than a week between the two movies, this period is the best time for the films to gain box office revenue.

Could it be that these two are also going to put on a good show of fighting?
Many filmmakers in the circle have raised questions!

.........

(End of this chapter)