Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 570 Things are not that simple

On Monday, July 31st, "Aftershock" entered a new week of screenings.

However, on weekdays, the movie's box office inevitably fell. On Monday, the box office was only 67 million, a drop of nearly 50% compared to the previous day.

This result is amazing enough. The performance of "Transformers 3" in the new week was even less, with only million box office, but their box office in the second week was also as high as more than million.

With the current high reputation of "Aftershock" with a Douban score of 8.9, the box office will at least not collapse in the future. It is conservatively estimated that the box office of the movie in the second week will be million.

So when seeing the box office performance of "Aftershock" in the new week, everyone knows that this movie will probably be unstoppable, which once again made everyone marvel at Liu Zhou.

At the same time, in Gusu City, Jiangsu Province, a grand banquet had just ended.

This day also marks the completion of the Suzhou Film Town, a joint investment by Huayi, Hengda Group and Ping An Insurance. It is also the first film town to be built.

Wang Zhongjun has always been keen on real-life entertainment projects. Strictly speaking, he is coveting the huge profits in the real estate industry.

However, the real estate industry is an asset-intensive industry, and the threshold is relatively high. Although the Wang brothers have connections, they may not be good enough to work in the real estate industry.

Moreover, it is difficult for them to leverage real estate projects with their financial resources, so Wang Zhongjun can only watch others make huge profits.

Later, with the listing of Huayi, Wang Zhongjun finally had enough capital to get involved in real estate.

It is not so easy to cross over from the film and television industry to real estate, and Wang Zhongjun does not dare to take too big a step.

However, he did have a way out. He thought of taking a different approach and using real-life entertainment projects as a springboard to get involved in the real estate business.

This film town in Suzhou is Huayi’s first step in cross-border development.

Projects like the Film Town not only allow them to accumulate experience in the real estate industry, but are also related to the film and television industry.

It just so happens that cultural and tourism projects have been very popular in recent years. Companies like Wanda Group have made the cultural and tourism industry a key business of the group.

Their entry into the film and television industry is not just to open a cinema to complement Wanda Plaza, but also to cooperate with cultural and tourism projects.

In the original time and space, Wang Zhongjun even came up with a de-filming strategy for the real-life entertainment projects, which directly turned Huayi from the number one private film and television company into one that was on the verge of delisting.

A lot of film towns have been built, but Wang Zhongjun’s goal of crossing over to the real estate industry has never been achieved. What’s worse is that the cultural and tourism market is not as big as imagined.

Huayi’s Film Town could not compete with Wanda’s cultural and tourism projects. In the end, as one film and television company after another rose, Huayi gradually declined.

Although Huayi's strength in this time and space is much weaker than that in the original time and space due to the existence of Golden Harvest Group, its current market value is more than 10 billion yuan. The Wang brothers are still diving into real-life entertainment projects.

It still sought cooperation with Hengda Group, ambitiously wanting to compete with Wanda’s cultural and tourism projects.

This film town built in Suzhou is the first, but not the last.

At the banquet celebrating the completion of the film town, the Wang brothers were also discussing several subsequent projects and the time of opening to the public with Hengda CEO Xu Jiayin.

Shortly after 12 o'clock, Wang Zhongjun's assistant came over and whispered something in his ear.

Wang Zhongjun frowned and said:

"Sixty-seven million, it looks like it's going to explode again, it really is true that he never fails."

At this moment, Xu Jiayin knew what Wang Zhongjun was talking about after thinking about this number for a moment.

He smiled and asked:

"Director Wang, Liu Zhou's new movie made over 60 million at the box office?"

"Yes, there are some movies to watch during the summer this year, but I don't know which one will win between "Aftershock" and "Transformers 3." Wang Zhongjun sighed.

Five years ago, there were only a few movies that grossed over 5 million yuan in a year, but now a movie can gross over million yuan in a single day.

The growth rate of the film market is not much slower than that of real estate.

However, Xu Jiayin has no intention of fully entering the film and television industry. There are only one or two movies a year that can gross 100 million yuan in a single day, so he does not care about the profit.

But thinking of Liu Zhou's identity as the richest man, he couldn't help but sigh:
“There aren’t many directors like Liu Zhou who have been in the industry for so long and have never failed.”

Wang Zhonglei next to him continued:

"Not only are there not many, there are none at all. If we count actors, there should have been Stephen Chow, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li in the past."

If we talk about directors who have never failed, there is no other one except Liu Zhou. Zhang Yimou was badly criticized for his two films "House of Flying Daggers" and "Curse of the Golden Flower".

But if we talk about directors who have not made losses in the past decade, apart from Liu Zhou and those directors who only made one or two films, the only ones are Feng Kuzi and Zhang Yimou.

Although "House of Flying Daggers" and "Curse of the Golden Flower" did not receive good reviews, they at least made money.

Even if it was Zhang Yimou in the original time and space, the two films "Three Guns" and "Under the Hawthorn Tree" did not lose money, and both made money. However, "Three Guns" greatly damaged the reputation he had accumulated from the Olympics.

Not to mention that because of Liu Zhou in this time and space, Zhang Yimou avoided a lot of pitfalls, and he also had "Red Cliff" and "Moon" in his hands, whose reputation was much better than that of the original time and space, and his box office appeal was comparable to Liu Zhou.

As for Feng Kuazi, it goes without saying that he has always been famous for his commercial films.

Although "The Banquet" had a bad reputation and "1942" did not meet expectations at the box office because it was too heavy, both films did not suffer losses. The former even made a fortune by relying on overseas copyrights.

This is also the reason why Wang Zhongjun has always been so confident in Feng Kuazi. Even though "If You Are the One 2" lost to Liu Zhou and Jiang Wen last year, it was still a big profit and it also boosted Huayi's stock price.

After the three of them chatted for a while, Xu Jiayin went back to his room to rest. Wang Zhongjun also took Wang Zhonglei back to his room and said to him:

"It looks like Aftershock is another billion-level movie. This is the second movie this year to gross around a billion. The pie is getting bigger and bigger. Even if we invest only 200 or 300 million, there is a good chance that the domestic box office will pay for itself."

Wang Zhonglei asked:
"Brother, what do you mean?"

“We don’t need to put all our energy into the film town, and it is unlikely to be profitable within three or four years. Hong Kong’s Disneyland has not yet recovered its cost, and it will probably take another year.

Go back first and see if there are any good film projects. Don’t throw away your capital.”

Previously, he thought that live entertainment projects would be the next focus of Huayi, but he found that the market of the film industry is getting bigger and bigger, and it is becoming more and more difficult to ignore. So Wang Zhongjun felt that the film industry could not be abandoned. He not only supported Feng Kuazi, but also invested in making more films.

If a movie becomes a big hit at the box office, the profits gained will be no less than that from the real estate industry.

"Okay, big brother, do we still need to continue to criticize Aftershock?"

"No need for that. There's not much point in continuing to criticize it now. This movie can't be suppressed."

Hearing Wang Zhongjun's words, Wang Zhonglei couldn't help but laugh:
"In fact, there are others who are doing it even if we don't have to do it. And it looks like they are targeting Liu Zhou."

Wang Zhongjun's sense of smell was much more sensitive than Wang Zhonglei's, which clearly made him feel that something was wrong and not simple.

Liu Zhou is now the richest man in the country, and it’s a stamp of approval. Yet, there are people who are clearly targeting him. It must not be just because of the movie.

"Let's not worry about these things. Let's finish the previous loose ends as soon as possible. Liu Zhou is not that simple. His power is already established. Unless he commits suicide, it will be difficult for others to shake his position.

He is not a good-tempered person. He used to be more restrained, but now someone is deliberately targeting him, he will definitely fight back. Don't let us suffer an unprovoked disaster."

"I understand, big brother. We are just doing the usual pace. Jiahe has done this before. It won't be too serious."

"No matter how careful you are, you can't go wrong. When you get back, you should deal with the matter as soon as possible."

……

Just as Wang Zhongjun thought, things were indeed not that simple.

After the box office results of "Aftershock" came out on Monday, there were suddenly more negative reviews about the movie on Tuesday.

The first to fire the first shot was the Beijing News, which had a feud with Liu and Zhou. It directly published an article by Professor Xiao Ying of Shuimu University, who wrote:
“Two days after Aftershock was released, an editor from a national media outlet called me and asked me to write a review of Liu Zhou’s film, but I declined.

Because I haven't seen the movie and I don't plan to see it.

Ever since "The Martian" and "Interstellar", these two films were hailed as the ones that completely opened the door to science fiction films and set box office records, but I feel that each one is worse than the last.

Liu Zhou learned second-rate visual techniques from Hollywood, and then dressed them up in the guise of science fiction in order to shock domestic audiences, but this only fully demonstrated his inherent cultural nihilism and film materialism.

Without having to watch "Aftershock", I can probably guess that the movie is definitely using the sufferings of the past and the ambitions of today's cultural industry to inspire people's national enthusiasm.

Judging from the comments online, the movie undoubtedly added high-tech elements, turning the whole movie into a mixture of vulgar commercial film and mainstream propaganda film..."

It seemed that this article sounded the clarion call, and soon after, many articles bashing "Aftershock" appeared on the Internet.

The two major flaws of "Aftershock", the ten disgusting aspects of "Aftershock", and the five reasons not to watch "Aftershock" are all very popular.

On Tuesday, "Aftershock" did not seem to have suffered too much negative impact and still took in 63 million yuan at the box office.

On Wednesday, another well-known figure in the industry stood up. Shi Jian, the screenwriter of "Struggle", ridiculed Liu Zhou harshly on his Weibo:
"In Aftershock, everyone is a good person, and only God is evil. Is this possible?

Liu Zhou also learned Zhang Yimou's tricks, and he played them even better than Zhang Yimou, but that trick was nothing more than exposing someone's old scars while applying red medicine on new wounds, making people feel pain and gratitude without offending anyone. The two of them are indeed people who can play together."

By the way, even Zhang Yimou was scolded, but that's normal. After the Olympics, he would criticize Lao Yimou from time to time. In the original time and space, he criticized Lao Yimou even more severely because of the movie "Three Guns".

There was even a media outlet that organized a special topic, analyzing at length that "Aftershock" could not be called a masterpiece.

With some people deliberately leading the trend, and with the help of Liu Zhou's black fans, they mocked Liu Zhou in various forums and even on his Weibo.

"Let's all boycott Aftershock. It's disgusting that Liu and Zhou are making money from the national disaster."

"Chinese-language films are ruined by people like Liu Zhou. In order to learn from Hollywood, they even brought out the disaster of 35 years ago."

"Liu Zhou is a complete idiot. Professor Xiao is right. Liu Zhou's films have no soul at all."

The sudden bad reviews shocked the entire circle. No one expected that Liu Zhou would suffer such a dark wave with his current status. Anyone who is not stupid would know that this must be organized and premeditated.

Liu Zhou's fans were also a little confused at first. "Aftershock" had a huge box office and good reputation, and the situation was very good. They were still waiting for the movie's box office to exceed "Transformers 3".

I didn't expect to suddenly receive a wave of bad reviews, which feels a bit confusing.

However, the fans who reacted later became furious.

Liu Zhou has accumulated a large number of fans in the more than ten years since his debut. As his achievements have grown, there has been no setbacks, so his fans are very loyal.

Apart from the early war of words with Feng Kuzi, because Liu Zhou's status rose so quickly, other people would hardly hold grudges against him, so there were not many fights among Liu Zhou's fans.

But this does not mean that Liu Zhou’s fans are weak, not to mention that there are so many of them.

Normally, Tao Kan could scold Liu Zhou, but he couldn't scold others, let alone he was scolding Liu Zhou in the face.

So before Liu Zhou and Jiahe could take any action, his angry fans immediately went into battle mode.

Not only did they confront those black fans in various forums and comment sections, they also went directly to the experts and professors to curse them, and even formed various formations to launch various forms of abuse.

These experts and professors who claim to be intellectuals have never encountered such a scene of being cursed by thousands of people. The curses were extremely harsh, either about their parents offering sacrifices to the gods or about their ashes drifting. They were so angry that they almost had a heart attack.

They were proud of their status and could not curse back. While shouting that it was insulting, they also wrote on Weibo:
"You are like your idol, you are like your star. They are just hooligans and scum."

To be honest, Liu Zhou doesn't care much about the criticism and abuse from these experts and professors. He only cares about the box office of "Aftershock".

The words "expert and professor" were originally such good words, but they were corrupted by those people during this period.

Some of them do it to gain a sense of existence, some do it out of pure envy and jealousy, and of course more of them do it because they have something wrong and want to be someone's lackey.

Liu Zhou was originally too lazy to pay attention to them, but the more you pay attention to them, the more excited they become.

However, after another expert professor spoke up, Liu Zhou realized that things were not that simple.

(End of this chapter)