Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 303 Chapter 314 [Starting the Chinese New Year holiday season in the mainland, starting the peak period]

The next morning, Li Yishu went to the airport to pick up Jiang Qinqin, and personally sent her to the Zhuozhou Film and Television Base. This girl also got a small supporting role in the crew of "Legend of the Han Palace".

The size of the role is not important, the main purpose is to let her practice more in the crew and see how others act.

Director Chen Jialin is quite capable. The "Tang Minghuang" he filmed was a sensation at the time, and Lin Fangbin's role as Yang Yuhuan was a classic among classics, truly showing the beauty of Yang Yuhuan.

After dealing with Jiang Qinqin, Li Yishu stayed in Yanjing for a few more days. After handling some company matters, he met Wang Shuo again.

After a few days of discussion, the people in the Haima Film and Television Creation Group also wanted to try their hand at TV drama production. Wang Shuo came here this time to discuss cooperation with Li Yishu.

They provide the ideas and funds, Li Yishu provides the funds and team, and the profits will be divided based on the investment for the time being.

Li Yishu readily agreed to this. She said that creativity is important, but the crew team is more important.

Yongmei has been recruiting people from all walks of life during this period, poaching people from film studios, from art troupes, and just recruiting all the way.

Now the people in the Haima Film and Television Creative Team are willing to contribute scripts and funds to participate in the cooperation, which can be regarded as sharing some of the risks. At the same time, it can also allow Yongmei to train and cultivate the team.

Just when Li Yishu had finished dealing with these things and was about to go to Ningxia to visit the crew of "A Chinese Odyssey", Han Sanping suddenly called and asked her to go to the Film Bureau.

Film Bureau.

"Everybody sit down, everybody sit down."

As soon as Li Yishu and Han Sanping entered the office, Director Zhang warmly invited them to sit down. At this time, the secretary also came over with some brewed tea, which showed that he had been prepared.

Director Zhang said, "I called you two here this time because I want to ask about the preparations for the Red Cliff movie and when it will start filming."

Hearing this, Han Sanping took over the conversation and said, "Director Zhang, the relevant props are currently being produced and are expected to be completed in the second half of the year. Various warships are also being built as quickly as possible, and the production will probably start in March or April next year."

"March or April next year." Director Zhang frowned, glanced at Li Yishu, and asked, "Director Li, can't it be faster?"

"Director Zhang, we can't do it quickly. We have invested 5 million RMB in this movie, so we have to ensure the quality. We need to find people to design and produce the costumes and props. If the foundation is not solid enough for large-scale scenes shot by tens of thousands of people, there will be a lot of problems when we actually start shooting."

Li Yishu also wanted to start filming earlier, but the same thing applies: China has no experience in filming real large-scale costume productions.

Even though three major liberation battles were filmed in the past, this is a modern war drama, with military experts as guides, real soldiers participating in the performance, and a real military engineering corps producing the explosion scenes.

These are all based on a foundation, and with the support of the military, all problems are not a problem.

But the Battle of Red Cliff in the Three Kingdoms period was different. No one knew how wars were fought in ancient times. How to set up formations, how to attack, and how to defend were all problems.

It takes professionals to develop plans.

Director Li Jun, who has filmed three major battles, and Director Shen Haofang, both focus on studying with relevant experts how troops were deployed in ancient times.

By the way, Cao Cao's expedition against the Wuhuan, his seven advances and seven retreats, including the subsequent Battle of Red Cliffs, were all simulated on the sand table in advance and then recorded in written form.

When the actual filming begins, all we have to do is arrange the battle formations according to the sand table simulation. Although there will certainly be some exaggeration during the actual filming, it will more or less retain some of the logic and traces of the ancient soldiers' battles.

"Alas! I know this truth, but time is running out."

Director Zhang sighed, looked at the two people with puzzled expressions, and explained: "Yesterday I had a meeting with the leaders of several departments, and we have decided to officially introduce the American movie "The Fugitive". The release date should be in November."

The blockbuster is coming!
Li Yishu's eyes flickered. He didn't think it was a bad thing for Hollywood movies to be released in China. Although it might be difficult for domestic films to beat the other side at the box office, it did bring some vitality to domestic films.

Han Sanping didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "November... Director Zhang, even if it is released next year, we can't finish filming this movie that quickly."

"I know, but American movies are coming on strong. I've seen The Fugitive in advance through special channels. It's been able to take in $3.6 million at the global film market. I'm worried about its release in China..."

Director Zhang has some difficult things to say. No matter how the box office of domestic films is, it doesn't seem to have much to do with him. But when an overseas film is released, that's a different story.

"The Fugitive" was released in the United States in August last year, and has since grossed $8 million worldwide. If such a global blockbuster had been released in China, with the gimmick of being the first imported film, the box office of this movie would definitely not be low.

In order to better settle accounts with Time Warner, it was decided to adopt the foreign box office model instead of using the number of people as in the past.

In this way, the movie box office can be more intuitive. After all, after the theater chain reform, movie ticket prices in big cities have begun to rise, which is different from the prices in small counties.

Once the box office model is activated, it is possible that "The Fugitive" will be the box office champion this year.

Li Yishu probably guessed Director Zhang's inner worries, and thinking of "Rumble in the Bronx", he couldn't help but say, "Director Zhang, I have a movie here that may be able to suppress it a little."

"What movie?!" Director Zhang's eyes lit up. Currently, the only person in China who has achieved good results in the commercial field is Li Yishu.

"This movie is my first collaboration with Hong Kong actor Cheng Long, who is quite famous in the mainland. I am also the director, and it is also an action movie. There are also scenes in the movie where Cheng Long drives a speedboat, hijacks an airplane, and drives a boat on the main road..."

Lee Yi-su succinctly outlined the advantages of "Rumble in the Bronx".

Just by listening to his introduction, Director Zhang felt that this movie was a blockbuster, with pursuits on the sea in speedboats, hijacking airplanes like the Railway Guerrillas in the past, and even driving boats onto the main road. How exciting that must be.

“Okay, this movie is good!”

Director Zhang said excitedly: "When will your movie be released? I will tell the review department. As long as there are no major problems, we will arrange it for you as soon as possible."

"We have already planned to release it in the United States in August. As for the mainland, Director Zhang, what do you think about the Spring Festival eve?"

"On the eve of the Spring Festival? Will anyone go to the movies then?"

"Hong Kong has the Lunar New Year period, which is before the Spring Festival. I think the mainland can also add a Lunar New Year period. I believe that this commercial blockbuster that I am working on with Jackie Chan will definitely attract audiences to the cinema. As long as it is scaled up, there will be an additional period in the future."

"You can try." Director Zhang analyzed it and nodded, "You can have someone send the negatives to me later. I will send it to the review department for you."

"Thank you, Director Zhang!"

Li Yishu was delighted. It seemed that he would be able to benefit from the release of this Hollywood movie.

If Director Zhang didn't want the domestic box office champion to be a foreign language film, he would definitely give Rumble in the Bronx more theaters and screens, and the box office would naturally rise. I stayed in the office for half an hour.

After the two left and came outside, Han Sanping couldn't help but say, "Yishu, this year we can have your movie compete with Hollywood movies, but next year I don't know what other movies will be able to compete with Hollywood movies."

Hearing this, Li Yishu showed a bitter smile. Next year, don't even think about competing in a competition, just don't get beaten by others.

"True Lies", "The Lion King", "Toy Story", "Bad Boys"...

These movies, which are still well-known even thirty years later, will be released collectively in mainland China next year.

Especially "True Lies", the movie box office exceeded 100 million yuan, not only becoming the first imported film to break the 100 million yuan box office in the film market, but also the first movie to break the 100 million yuan box office record in history.

Previously, the domestic box office revenue was calculated based on the number of moviegoers, just like in South Korea. The main reason was that ticket prices were unified across the country. But after the theater chains reformed and ticket prices began to change, the box office revenue was adopted.

Fortunately, we have Li Yishu in this life. His previous "Sword Rain" successfully achieved a box office revenue of over 100 million yuan in the mainland, and it was also broadcast on the TV program.

But despite this, domestic films will probably not have an easy time next year.

Ten foreign films are scheduled from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, with no domestic protection month, basically covering the entire year. In the mainland market where almost all films are art films, who can resist?

And the future "Titanic" is even more exaggerated, sweeping up more than 300 million box office in the mainland.

Li Yishu is capable, but a person's ability is limited. It seems that we need to find a few people who can take over the family as soon as possible.

Feng Pants is pretty good. His Feng-style comedies are still very popular these days. I'll talk to Zhang Yimou later and tell him to stop sticking to art films and focus on commercial films.

Brother Chen Kai is actually quite good, but the two of them don't get along well, and it's impossible for Lee Yi-su to curry favor with someone who doesn't like him. It depends on how he can perform in "The Emperor and the Assassin" this time.

The next day, Li Yishu went to Ningxia Zhenbeibao Western Film and Television City to visit the crew of "A Chinese Odyssey".

Although he and Zhou Xingchi didn't have much contact, they had dealt with each other several times. And since Lan Jieying was there, he had to go over and see her.

Originally, Li Yishu only planned to stay for a few days, but unexpectedly, she ended up staying in Ningxia for a full week.

The reason was that after reading the script, he couldn't help but bring out various interpretations of later Internet celebrities and discussed them with Zhou Xingchi, which greatly increased his inspiration.

This delayed us for several days.

At the end of July, after returning from Ningxia, Li Yishu set off for Hong Kong.

While inviting Yang Shoucheng and Cheng Long to dinner, he also learned about the fact that Zeng Zhiwei had been completely banned.

All of Zeng Zhiwei’s film contracts were terminated and TV stations no longer broadcast news about him.

From now on, there will no longer be a person named Zeng Zhiwei in the Hong Kong circle.

In the hotel box, Li Yishu raised his glass and thanked: "Boss Yang, A'long, thank you both for your help this time."

"Haha, Director Li is too polite. These are what we should do!"

Mr. Yang laughed and said, "The reason why the Hong Kong entertainment industry is so chaotic is because of people like Zeng Zhiwei. This time we kill a chicken to scare the monkeys. I believe there will be fewer such people in the future."

Cheng Long nodded: "Boss Yang is right. I have known Zeng Zhiwei for many years. He used to like to touch female stars. Now he has stepped on the iron plate this time. It is his own fault."

"Anyway, I have to thank you both for your help."

After Li Yishu finished the wine, she took out two printed scripts from her bag and said, "This is the script I wrote. There are still many details that need to be rewritten by someone else, but the plot is roughly like this. You can take a look."

Hearing this, the two immediately picked up the script and started reading.

Cheng Long read the script very quickly and realized that this was a movie with two male protagonists. He immediately looked up and asked, "Director Li, is this script about two male protagonists?"

"That's right, Aaron. If you want to really break into Hollywood and make your movie a big hit in Hollywood, you must have a foreign actor as the male lead..."

The script that Lee Yi-su brought out was "Rush Hour".

The reason why this movie pushed Jackie Chan to the pinnacle of the industry and even sold well in North America, in addition to Jackie Chan's personal ability, the black actor Chris Tucker also contributed a lot.

One is heavy and steady, the other is a playful hippie. The two of them combined together form a special chemical reaction.

The later "Detective Chinatown 3" also learned the essence to some extent, one good and one evil, Qin Feng is the good one and Tang Ren is the evil one.

"Why is it a black actor?" Mr. Yang noticed that the other male lead was specifically marked as black, and couldn't help but look up at Li Yishu.

"Choosing a black actor can not only support Aaron, but also attract black audiences. At the same time, most black actors have a hippie style and speak with a sense of humor. This, combined with the role played by Aaron, can attract the audience to a greater extent."

After hearing this, Mr. Yang and Cheng Long thought about it and felt that it was a good idea to choose a black actor.

The later "Shanghai Noon" was also a duo, with Jackie Chan and white actor Owen Wilson as one good and one evil. The box office was also good, with a global box office of nearly 100 million US dollars. With a good profit, there was a second sequel.

After just a cursory glance at the script, Cheng Long felt that this movie would definitely be a success, and immediately raised his head excitedly and asked, "Director Li, when will the filming of this movie start?"

"I'm afraid I don't have time this year. I have to start filming Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms next year, so maybe the year after next."

Li Yishu pondered, "We can start preparing for the production by the end of next year, and start filming in early 96. I believe that by then, Mr. Yang, your company should have everything ready, right?"

"Director Li, please rest assured. One and a half years is enough for me to run the company."

Mr. Yang is full of confidence. He just completed the acquisition of Feitu Entertainment a few days ago. In the next year and a half, he will start to improve the company's film and television department. Then he will follow Director Li to Hollywood to earn US dollars.

Cheng Long was a little disappointed that it would take a year and a half to start filming, but fortunately he still had several scripts on hand so he was not in a hurry.

(End of this chapter)