Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 132 [Two and a half minutes of live broadcast: my country's young directors...]

Li Yishu was looking forward to the News Broadcast. With the help of connections at the Beijing Film Studio and the fact that this was a big news story, she collected data and information for several days. On December 12th, at 25:17 p.m., the News Broadcast also broadcast the relevant news at the -minute mark.

Announcer Zhang Hongmin said in his deep and powerful voice:

"Recently, the martial arts film "Sword Rain" directed by our young director Li Yishu was released in 12 countries around the world at 15 pm Yanjing time on December 76.

The first-day box office achieved an astonishing result of 2076 million US dollars, breaking the first-day box office record of Chinese-language films in the world and breaking the box office record of Chinese-language films in Japan, with a box office of 921 million US dollars on the first day..."

"The movie "Sword Rain" has refreshed and broken the box office records of many regions and countries. As of December 12, the film has earned 24 million in the box office in mainland my country.

The film grossed 2100 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong and 5600 million New Taiwan dollars in Taiwan.

It grossed $587 million in the United States, $3700 million in Japan, and $890 million in Europe..."

"As of 12:25 a.m. on December 1, the total box office of the film has exceeded million U.S. dollars worldwide. As of today, "Sword Rain" has been released for ten days and has achieved such an amazing box office result. It is a powerful export of my country's film industry... It fully shows that Chinese Kung Fu is going global... It is a favorable proof that what is national is what is global..."

"Young director Lee Yi-su has won numerous awards and box office successes with his outstanding directing talent, and has even created the amazing photography technique of "bullet time"!
The film "Sword Rain" directed with this technology has been highly praised and praised at home and abroad after being broadcast around the world. The State Administration of Film has given it a high evaluation..."

"..."

A full two and a half minutes.

The news broadcast was only 30 minutes long, but Lee Yi-seok and his movie took up one-tenth of the time. The content was very, very valuable, and the announcer almost praised Lee Yi-seok for being so excellent.

To some extent, he can be said to have built up a golden skin. Why hasn't anything happened to Brother Chen Kai despite all his impressive moves?
In the final analysis, it is because of the Palme d'Or. Secondly, he is also a representative who brought glory to the country in the 1990s. As long as it does not involve issues of principle, most of his outrageous actions can be forgiven.

Just like the son of Big Nose Dragon, after being arrested, he was still able to appear openly in Director Chen's "The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain". You should know that the year before the movie was released, this kid was on the legal column of CCTV News.

If a normal director were like this, he would have disappeared long ago.

Nanluoguxiang.

In the courtyard house that Li Yishu bought and named "Shuyuan".

In the living room, the family was eating and watching the news.

At this moment, after seeing the time of her broadcast and the comments on the news broadcast, Li Yishu was very happy. There is no one who doesn't love the golden body. With this layer of skin, at least she doesn't have to worry about the entanglement of some monsters.

Jiang Qinqin, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but excitedly said, "Brother Yishu, you are so amazing. You are on the news again!" when she saw Li Yishu appear on the news broadcast. There were photos of him winning awards in Venice and Tokyo, Japan.

Zhao Xue also had tears in her eyes: "Son, you are awesome. Mom is proud of you!"

Although Li Jian didn't say anything, his eyes were full of relief and joy.

There is no parent who does not want their children to be successful. Even a small progress is enough to make parents feel gratified and happy.

"It's okay. I'll go on the news again next year for you to see!"

Seeing his parents and Qinqin happy, Li Yishu also thanked God for giving him a chance to start over.

Jiang Qinqin asked in surprise, "Is this true? Brother Yishu, can you still go on next year?"

"Why can't I go?" Li Yishu said with a smile: "If you win the award, you can go."

Li Jian asked, "Is it the movie Farewell My Concubine?"

He had heard about this movie from Zhang Fengyi. Although he had not seen the finished film, based on his feelings during the filming, Zhang Fengyi felt that the quality of the film must be very high. It was hard to say whether it could win an award, but he thought there was hope.

“Yeah, that’s the movie.”

Li Yishu nodded and said, "I will register for Cannes next March. If nothing unexpected happens, I will definitely be shortlisted. It depends on whether I can win an award by then."

Although many things have changed due to Lee Ye-soo's arrival, he feels that it is not time for him to change the original Cannes Film Festival jury selection without affecting the Cannes Film Festival.

It’s hard to say whether or not I’ll win the Palme d’Or, but I’m sure I won’t go home empty-handed.

The quality of the film is there, and Hollywood films are becoming more and more powerful. If European film festivals want to avoid being influenced by American commercial films, they must seize the huge Chinese film-watching market.

“I’m sure you’ll win a prize!”

Jiang Qinqin clenched her fist and said confidently, "I believe Brother Yishu can do it!"

"Haha, then I'll borrow Qinqin's good words."

Li Yishu smiled and then asked, "Mom, are you leaving the day after tomorrow?"

"Yes, I will go back the day after tomorrow. Qinqin still has to go to school. I have been here for almost two weeks."

While the family was chatting.

On the night when the news broadcast ended, major cinemas in Yanjing were surrounded by audiences who took to the streets to see the movie.

Many people in their thirties and forties brought their wives and children to watch this movie, just because they wanted to see how wonderful the movie that was praised so highly in the "News Broadcast" was, a movie that even foreigners praised highly and that grossed $1 million in just ten days.

That’s $1 million!!
In an era where the average wage per capita is only 1- yuan, $ million is an unattainable dream for many people! And not only in Yanjing, but also in cinemas across the country, the evening screenings of "Sword Rain" were almost sold out, and many people even sneaked into the cinema's screening room without paying the ticket.

In an instant, most movie theaters across the country were almost full.

After December 12th, the next day, the 25th, happens to be a Saturday and Sunday.

Many people from state-owned enterprises and public institutions, young couples, young people, college students on vacation, high school students, martial arts novel fans, people in the industry... all walked into the cinema with money.

Want to see this movie.

For two consecutive days on Saturday and Sunday, the domestic box office increased instead of decreased, and the two-day box office directly exceeded 3000 million, and also broke the record of domestic film box office exceeding 12 million. In just 1 days, it created an astonishing box office result of million.

Monday morning.

On weekdays, Renmin Daily published the box office record of "Sword Rain" breaking 12 million in days. It not only highly praised Li Yishu, the rising star of domestic directors, but also expressed great optimism about the future of the domestic film market.

However, after reading this report and its evaluation of the future domestic film market, Li Yishu shook her head slightly.

No one knows better than him how sluggish the future film market will be.

In the 80s, the average annual box office was over 22 billion yuan.

At the beginning of this year, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television reported its performance in 1991. The total box office of mainland films reached 24 billion yuan, the highest record in the past few decades, and the number of moviegoers reached 144 billion.

This is equivalent to the average person in the country going to the movies 10 times.

For people living twenty years in the future, this data may be a bit exaggerated, but it is a fact. On the one hand, many areas now show movies for free in rural areas.

Secondly, televisions were far from popular at the time, and the only forms of entertainment were reading books, magazines, or going out to play. Students and young people were happy to spend a few dollars to go to the cinema with friends to watch a movie, and they could talk about the content of the movie for half a month.

It's normal to watch a movie several times a month, or ten to twenty times a year.

If you are given a choice between going to the cinema to watch a movie or reading a book, most people will definitely go to the cinema if they have money on hand.

But Li Yishu knows that such a good market will no longer exist after next year.

After 1992, there was a huge watershed in the domestic film market. The total box office fell for several consecutive years, and the number of moviegoers dropped to a horrible level. In 1999, the annual total box office was only 8.1 million yuan, the number of moviegoers was less than 3 million, and ticket prices had risen sharply at that time.

By 2003, the situation was even worse, with only 7230 million moviegoers, roughly equivalent to an average day's figure in 1992.

The reasons for this are nothing more than the increase in movie ticket prices, the increase in prices, and the people's salary levels cannot keep up with the current consumption, so everyone has to tighten their belts to make ends meet.

In the past ten years, prices have risen rapidly. In some places, wages have not even doubled. Movie tickets cost dozens of dollars, so naturally no one wants to go to the movies because they are so expensive.

That morning, after sending his parents and Qinqin to the airport, Li Yishu drove to the Art Film Company, Yanjing Office.

That’s right, Li Yishu bought two imported cars in the name of the office.

Two Santanas.

Both vehicles are registered under the name of the company office.

One is for company use and the other is for his own use.

It’s not that she can’t afford a better car, but the domestic security is not very good these days. Although driving a car itself is very ostentatious, Li Yishu is tired of taking the bus and minivan taxi.

The buses are crowded and taxis are not always available. Most of them are only available in areas frequented by foreign guests, such as foreign-related hotels and airports.

"Director Li, congratulations!"

When Li Yishu arrived at the company, Xu Suo had been waiting there for a long time. She said with a smile on her face, "The global box office has exceeded 1.3 million, and it is expected to exceed 1.5 million US dollars in the future."

"Sister Xu, I'm not the only one who's happy about this, we're all happy about this!"

Li Yishu smiled happily: "The movie box office is high, and we still have the Beijing Film Studio, so we should be happy."

"Who said it wasn't? Deputy Director Zhang of the Beijing Film Studio was grinning so hard that his mouth was almost crooked. He even called me this morning to ask if there was any possibility of continuing to work with you, Director Li."

Xu Suo asked tentatively, because this was also a question for herself.

Everyone knows Lee Yi-su’s movies now. Her art films can win awards, and her commercial films can get box office success. She is truly an all-round talent!

Who wouldn’t want to collaborate?!
“Maybe there won’t be a chance for a while.”

Li Yishu thought about it and shook her head: "I still have four movies on hand, so there is not much hope for next year."

"Central Station" co-produced with Qiu Fusheng is about to start shooting, as well as "The Reader" with Qingxia and Lai Shengchuan, and "Nobody" co-produced with Zhang Manyu. As for Sony Columbia, I received news from a messenger two days ago that they hope to launch the first English film project of cooperation between the two parties next year.

These four movies will take up almost all of Lee Yi-su's time next year, or even a little more.

In 1993, he will be very busy, not only making movies but also attending film festivals, so he really has no time to think about new movies.

(End of this chapter)