Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 587 Crazy "Lost in Thailand"

Although Xu Zheng’s previous film “Modern Times” was not a success, this “Lost in Thailand” was promoted as the sequel to “Lost on Journey”.

The name of the whole film is "Lost in Thailand".

The movie "Lost on Journey" has earned more than 100 million yuan at the box office this year, and after two years of fermentation, it still has some influence among the audience.

Therefore, the sequel to "Lost in Thailand" has also attracted considerable attention.

On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, Golden Harvest held a fairly lively premiere for "Lost in Thailand".

No other guests were invited to the premiere, only directors or artists under the company were invited to show their support.

Despite this, when the big directors and stars under Golden Harvest walked onto the red carpet, the media reporters who were present could not help but be amazed.

The artists and directors under Golden Harvest are enough to support a large-scale event.

Xu Zheng is undoubtedly the protagonist of tonight, but compared to the same period last year, he is now much more humble and low-key.

Liu Zhou also attended the premiere in person this time.

Even if we don't do it for Xu Zheng's sake, we have to do it for "Lost in Thailand".

The movie "Lost in Thailand" is indeed a very good comedy.

Even when watching it again, Liu Zhou couldn't help laughing out loud.

You have to know that his sense of humor is already quite high, and he usually won't laugh unless he really can't help it.

In fact, not only Liu Zhou, but also the audience including the company's directors and artists, were laughing.

Seeing this scene, Liu Zhou knew that the movie was a sure success.

Because it was close to the Chinese New Year, there was no dinner party after the premiere and everyone left.

However, it was not so easy for Xu Zheng, Huang Bo and Wang Baoqiang.

Even though Chinese New Year is tomorrow, they still need to promote the movie.

This time, because the budget for "Lost in Thailand" was sufficient, the three of them only received their film salaries instead of using their film salaries as shares to get a share of the profits.

Xu Zheng had just suffered a setback last year and had become much more pragmatic. He no longer dared to act in front of Jiahe.

So this time he just acted as a director honestly and didn't mention anything about investment.

Huang Bo is leaving Golden Harvest this year, so of course he won't make unreasonable demands.

What's more, Golden Harvest was very kind to him. Knowing that he was going to leave when his contract ended, they not only did not block him but also provided him with a lot of high-quality resources.

Especially the role of Fatty Wang in "Mojin: The Lost Tomb", he was very clear that Golden Harvest was planning to make "Ghost Blows Out the Light" into a series of blockbuster films.

This is a guarantee for Huang Bo's future.

Even if he leaves Golden Harvest and his career goes badly, he still has the "Ghost Blows Out the Light" series to back him up.

Therefore, he would be willing to star in "Lost in Thailand" for free this time, not to mention that he can also see that this is an excellent comedy movie.

As for Wang Baoqiang, he also received film remuneration.

Although he is an artist under Huayi, what really made him famous across the country was his role in Golden Harvest's dramas.

The movie "Soldier Assault" tore off the label of Sha Gen and he became the nationally famous Xu Sanduo.

Later, the films "My Brother is Shunliu" and "Lost on Journey" that made him even more famous were both produced by Golden Harvest.

He is also the only Huayi artist who is on good terms with Golden Harvest and has collaborated with Golden Harvest on many occasions.

There is no need for him to take the initiative to lower his pay this time.

I think after the movie becomes a big hit, Xu Zheng and Huang Bo won't feel unbalanced if they don't get a lot of money from their share of the profits, and there shouldn't be any conflicts among the three of them.

However, given Xu Zheng's shrewd personality, even if there is no conflict between him and Wang Baoqiang this time, it will probably be difficult for them to continue cooperating in the future.

February 2, 2012, New Year’s Eve.

The Spring Festival Gala starts on time at 8 o'clock in the evening.

There were many new faces in this year's Spring Festival Gala. The skit "Today's Happiness" created by Zhoushan Drama Troupe was performed on the Spring Festival Gala. This was also the first time that the drama troupe had a work performed on the Spring Festival Gala.

Shen Teng's Hao Jian is about to become famous throughout the country.

Cao Yunjing, one of the four young masters of Deyun Club, also appeared on the Spring Festival Gala stage for the first time, but this was the second time for a disciple of Deyun Club.

Liu Qian, who was very popular last year, also returned to the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Dragon with his magic tricks.

Li Yugang also sang "The New Drunken Concubine" on the Spring Festival Gala stage.

However, no matter how good these programs are, this year's Spring Festival Gala lacks something in the eyes of ordinary people.

Because Zhao Benshan is gone.

This is the first time in more than 20 years that Zhao Benshan has missed the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, and he will not be seen again in the future.

The director of this year's CCTV Spring Festival Gala is Ha Wen, a director who strives for innovation.

Therefore, Zhao Benshan's works that were not original were eliminated, the midnight bell was cancelled, and the folk song medley that was broadcast after midnight in previous years was cancelled.

The Spring Festival Gala's signature program, the ending song "Unforgettable Tonight", was also replaced by "One World, One Family".

The entire Spring Festival Gala revolves around the theme of "going home for the New Year", the only thing missing is making dumplings.

This also resulted in the 2012 CCTV Spring Festival Gala achieving the lowest ratings in history, at only percent.

The discussion about this year's Spring Festival Gala was also very heated, but it was no longer like in the past when everyone was discussing the programs of the Gala, but rather some controversies.

For example, Zhao Benshan’s absence from the CCTV Spring Festival Gala caused widespread discussion.

Many people on the Internet were criticizing this year's CCTV Spring Festival Gala for being extremely ugly.

Of course this is certainly a bit extreme, but the overall quality of the 2012 Spring Festival Gala did decline significantly compared to previous programs, and not just because of the absence of Zhao Benshan.

But soon, everyone's attention was attracted by another piece of news.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, "Lost in Thailand" was released in all major theaters across the country.

This year's Spring Festival period is much quieter than in previous years.

From the outside, there was no blockbuster released, and even Golden Harvest only released one comedy.

Other companies had no movies released at all, only two or three Hong Kong films, which were rehashed comedies, and two Hollywood blockbusters.

The only slightly noteworthy films among these are Lost in Thailand and Mission: Impossible 4.

Although "Lost in Thailand" is the sequel to "Lost on Journey", people's psychological expectations for this movie will not be too high.

The previous film only had a box office of over 100 million yuan. Even if this sequel makes more, it won’t be that much more. Two or three hundred million yuan will be considered very good. If it can break 400 million yuan, it will be a hit.

However, for the current film market, a box office of over 400 million is a good result, but it is unlikely to attract much attention.

At this time, there are already three Chinese-language films with box office revenue exceeding 1 billion yuan, and seven or eight with box office revenue exceeding 500 million yuan.

Moreover, no one thinks that a comedy movie can break 400 million box office. Even Feng Kuzi has not achieved this result.

As for "Mission Impossible 4", it is even more so.

Although Tom Cruise's series of movies are very famous, their box office in China has always been mediocre. The first three movies grossed over 100 million yuan in China.

So they don’t think that the fourth film will do well at the domestic box office.

This is also why they think this year's Spring Festival period is a bit quiet.

In the past, Golden Harvest’s blockbusters were the backstop, so it was quite lively. But this year, there was not a single domestic blockbuster. But it was this “Lost in Thailand” that was not taken too seriously, but it surprised everyone.

On its first day of release, Lost in Thailand grossed 88 million.

This result directly surpassed the 86 million of "The Flowers of War", which was just released, and was second only to "Interstellar" and "Aftershock".

When this data came out, everyone in the industry was stunned.

Their first reaction was that the data might be counted incorrectly.

Afterwards, after the people below confirmed that the data was correct, they all took a deep breath.

This low-budget comedy starring only three grown men is actually more powerful than Zhang Yimou's blockbuster?

They couldn't believe it, but they had to admit the fact.

Not only did people in the industry not expect it, but even the media did not expect "Lost in Thailand" to be so popular.

Many media outlets tore up their prepared headlines about the Spring Festival Gala and replaced them with box office reports about Lost in Thailand.

So on the second day of the Chinese New Year, news reports about "Lost in Thailand" were almost as important as those about the Spring Festival Gala.

This is also the first time that a news event has been able to compete with the Spring Festival Gala in the two or three days after the New Year, and it is a movie.

This situation will become even worse in the future. Not many people pay attention to the Spring Festival Gala, but the box office data of Spring Festival movies has become a hot topic for everyone.

The huge success of "Lost in Thailand" also shocked everyone at Golden Harvest.

Zhang Zhao, who was on vacation at home, immediately returned to Golden Harvest headquarters and personally directed the publicity and distribution department to intensify the promotion of the film.

He was also a little bit mistaken.

I thought I could have a good New Year, and a movie like "Lost in Thailand" could be produced by the people below.

But I didn’t expect this movie to be so popular. It seems to be even more popular than “The Flowers of War” and “Flying Swords of Dragon Gate”.

These two are blockbuster films that have attracted national attention.

"Lost in Thailand" is just a comedy that attracts the attention of a small group of people.

But it is such a comedy that seems to have the tendency to overthrow both of these blockbusters.

Judging from the first-day box office data of "Lost in Thailand", this movie has a high possibility of being another movie that can break the 1 billion box office.

This is not a trivial matter for Zhang Zhao.

Holidays happen all the time, but movies that break the billion-dollar box office don’t come around often.

So he went back to the company in person to take charge, otherwise he would not feel at ease, and he could also mobilize resources more efficiently.

In addition, the person who was most excited about the huge box office of 89 million on the first day of "Lost in Thailand" was Xu Zheng.

He was even so excited that he almost cried.

At this time last year, he was criticized by the media and netizens, which caused him great psychological pressure.

This time, "Lost in Thailand" is a work that he has high hopes for and hopes to make a comeback, and he has put in a lot of effort.

Now the film's performance is unexpectedly good, which makes him completely proud.

This was better than the scenarios he'd imagined when he lay awake at night.

Now, without Jiahe urging him, he took the initiative to lead Huang Bo and Wang Baoqiang to start more intensive publicity.

On the second day of the Chinese New Year, "Inverse War" starring two young kings Jay Chou and Xie Tingfeng was released, but it had no impact on "Lost in Thailand".

On the second day of its release, Lost in Thailand exploded at the box office again, raking in 1.03 million yuan in a single day, becoming the fourth domestic film to exceed million yuan in a single day.

This data shocked everyone again.

Now no one doubts that this movie suddenly became a hit simply because it had no rivals.

A single-day box office of over 100 million yuan is not something that can be achieved without competitors.

This requires the quality of the film itself to be very high.

At this time, the heated discussion about "Lost in Thailand" on the Internet also proves everyone's love for this movie.

As the movie was released on a large scale, more and more people watched it, and discussions about it became more and more heated.

This time, Golden Harvest did not conduct any control over public opinion. Despite this, the vast majority of online reviews of the film were positive.

There are even some self-media or gossip tabloids that claim to capitalize on the popularity and attract attention, claiming that Feng Pants' Feng-style comedy is out of date and that Xu Zheng is the new comedy king of the mainland.

In fact, this brought Xu Zheng some bad reputation.

As for the title of King of Comedy, in everyone's mind, there is only one person who deserves it, and that is Stephen Chow.

Such comments aroused the disgust of some of Zhou Xingxing's fans and also caused Xu Zheng to receive some criticism.

But Xu Zheng wouldn't care about these things at this moment.

Now he is busy promoting the product like crazy, as if he has been injected with chicken blood.

Yesterday, he was also a little worried that the first-day box office of "Lost in Thailand" would be a flash in the pan. If the box office dropped on the second day, it would be a false alarm.

However, the box office on the second day of the Chinese New Year gave him a bigger surprise, with the single-day box office directly exceeding 100 million yuan.

The newly released "Inverse War" was directly defeated by "Lost in Thailand", and its first-day box office was less than 10 million, with only more than 9 million.

Xu Zheng now feels that he is incredibly strong.

On the third day of the Chinese New Year, the third day of "Lost in Thailand"'s release, it once again grossed 1.05 million yuan, breaking the million yuan mark for two consecutive days.

Another Hong Kong film "Eight Stars Reporting Good News" was released on the same day. This classic comedy remake starring Donnie Yen and Louis Koo also could not pose any threat to "Lost in Thailand".

The first-day box office was even lower than that of "Inverse War", with only 8.5 million.

At this point, the momentum of "Lost in Thailand" could no longer be suppressed.

It was only released for three days, but it became a phenomenal movie that was discussed nationwide.

On the fourth day of its premiere, it once again grossed 1.02 million yuan, and the film exceeded million yuan for three consecutive days, performing better than "Interstellar" and "Aftershock".

These two blockbusters, which were the top two in the history of Chinese-language films, did not achieve the feat of grossing over 100 million yuan per day for three consecutive days.

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the performance of "Lost in Thailand" declined slightly, closing at 96 million box office.

On this day, the Hollywood movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth" hit theaters, taking away a certain amount of screenings and attention.

Although the single-day box office of "Lost in Thailand" dropped by 100 million, it can be seen that the impact is not that great.

On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, "Mission Impossible 4" was officially released, which once again squeezed the screening of "Lost in Thailand", but it also reduced the screenings of "Inverse War" and "Eight Stars Announcement".

"Mission Impossible 4" earned 32 million at the box office that day, and Tom Cruise still has some appeal.

However, the impact on the box office of "Lost in Thailand" was not that big either. On the sixth day of its release, it once again grossed 91 million.

The seventh day of the Lunar New Year, the seventh day of the film's release, was also the last day of the Spring Festival holiday. Perhaps because many people returned to the city, the box office fell again, earning only 82 million.

The movie grossed 6.68 million yuan in seven days after its release, setting a new first-week box office record.

Although the Spring Festival holiday has passed, the box office of subsequent movies will definitely drop significantly.

But no one doubts that the box office of "Lost in Thailand" can exceed 1 billion.

(End of this chapter)