Huayu: Director started with art films

On the night of New Year’s Eve, most Chinese people are immersed in the joy of the New Year.

But there were still many staff members left in the newspaper office, busy preparing newspapers for the next day.

The front-page headlines of major newspapers are naturally about the Spring Festival Gala on the night of the 30th.

Among them, the most reported content, apart from skits and songs, was the promotional video for "Red Cliff".

It’s hard to say whether this type of promotional video is popular in the country, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan... but at least it’s the first of its kind in the mainland.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, there was not much content about "Red Cliff" in the newspapers.

But things were different on the second day of the Lunar New Year. Content related to the movie "Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms" popped up all over the place.

Many film critics, writers, filmmakers, etc. who watched the trailer on the night of the 30th wrote articles and submitted them to familiar newspapers.

Starting from the second day of the Chinese New Year, it dominated the headlines of major newspapers, and major weekly magazines also began to report on "Red Cliff" filmed by Lee Yi-su.

This movie itself is full of topics.

The total investment for a film is 6.3 million RMB.

This number is something that ordinary people would never dare to imagine in their lifetime.

Compared with the current investment cost of mainland films, it is not as simple as doubling it.

The investment cost of many movies is only two or three million, and the better co-productions are only around tens of millions.

Although Lee Yi-su's 6.3 million-yuan blockbuster may seem like a collection of more than films that grossed tens of millions of yuan, the scale of the film market is just that big.

Not exaggerating.

Even if we count last year's box office revenue from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan together.

It's unlikely that this movie will even recoup its costs.

Last year, the total box office in mainland China was 10 billion.

The total box office data in Hong Kong shows that the movie box office exceeds 2 million Hong Kong dollars. If you include miscellaneous movies that were not really popular, the total box office data is at most 3 million Hong Kong dollars.

The box office market in the Taiwan region is estimated to be only 4-5 million yuan in RMB.

All added together, it’s only 17-8 billion RMB.

According to the theory that a movie can recover its cost by three times the box office, if all these box office revenues are counted, then "Red Cliff" can barely make a profit.

But this is simply unrealistic.

Over the past year, many people have been curious about what kind of movie Li Yishu made by gathering so many famous domestic directors and investing 6.3 million yuan.

Can such a huge investment be recovered?

There are countless doubts. Not only filmmakers, but also ordinary movie fans are curious about the movie.

Now the movie trailer is out, and it will be broadcast on the Spring Festival Gala, a stage that the whole country is looking forward to.

Those scenes made movie fans excited and filmmakers amazed.

Many film veterans praised the excellence of this film in newspapers.

Big Year.

An article was published in the People’s Daily:
"Chinese cinema has a history of 80 years, from the black-and-white silent films of the past to the color sound films of today, from revolutionary deeds to the simple worker-peasant alliance to the scar films of the s.

Chinese films have been making progress, and a large number of outstanding young directors have emerged. Among these directors, Li Yishu, a young director who is less than 30 years old, is one of the best.

In 1991, he made his directorial debut with the film "The Mountain, the Man, the Dog", which won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice International Film Festival in the same year...

We have a large number of excellent directors in China, and foreign filmmakers are also making progress.

"Jaws", directed by American director Steven Spielberg in 1975, ushered in the era of blockbuster special effects movies.

What is a blockbuster?

A "big" level movie with big directors, big stars, big production, big investment, big scenes, big cast, big returns, etc. is called a blockbuster.

In the past two decades, Hollywood has produced a large number of Hollywood blockbusters, such as "Star Wars", "Jurassic Park", "ET"...

These blockbuster movies all illustrate the importance of blockbusters from a visual and humanistic perspective.

We Chinese movies also have blockbusters. In 1983, Shaw Brothers invested tens of millions to shoot "The Untold Story". In the same year, Hong Kong director Xu Ke shot "The Legend of Zu" at a cost of 2000 million Hong Kong dollars...

In 1986, the August 1st Film Studio invested million yuan to shoot the "The Decisive Battle" trilogy, which took nearly six years to shoot and mobilized tens of thousands of people. It was the film with the largest number of personnel, the highest cost, and the longest time required to shoot a modern war in the history of Chinese cinema.

In 1993, the blockbuster "Red Cliff" was directed by young director Li Yishu and co-directed by Xie Jin, Li Jun, Yang Guangyuan, Wang Fulin, Shen Haofang, etc., with an investment of 6.3 million RMB.

It took nearly two years from preparation to shooting for this film. Two hundred million yuan was invested in Hengdian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to build the Changle Palace and Weiyang Palace. Tens of millions more were invested to build tens of thousands of sets of ancient armor, as well as ancient Han Dynasty warships modeled after the treasure ships of Zheng He in the Ming Dynasty...

The film officially started shooting on June 1995, 6.

The filming took place in Inner Mongolia, Jinhua, Wuhan, and other cities, involving nearly 80 extras, tens of thousands of soldiers, and tens of thousands of horses.

More than half a year after the start of filming, on the evening of New Year's Eve, on February 1996, 2, the crew of "Red Cliff" presented a New Year's gift to the people of the whole country on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala.

In just 90 seconds of footage, the following plots are presented: Zhang Liao killed Tadun at the White Wolf Mountain formation, Cao Cao led an army of southwards, Zhao Yun went in and out of Changbanpo seven times, Zhuge Liang debated with a group of scholars, and Zhou Yu used a series of clever strategies to burn down Chibi.

These shots are so fascinating that people are mesmerized. Lee Yi-su is indeed a leader among the new generation of directors. The pictures and texture of the films she shoots are first-rate, on par with Hollywood blockbusters.

I hope Director Li Yishu can create a blockbuster that belongs to us Chinese, a domestic blockbuster!

Finally, I sincerely look forward to the release of this movie! "

As soon as this article came out.

The topic of Lee Yi-su reached its peak in an instant, thanks to the promotional video on New Year's Eve.

From south to north, from north to south, ordinary people are all discussing "Three Kingdoms" and filmmakers are all discussing Lee Yi-seok.

If we don't count the tens of millions of dollars of film investment in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and don't count the mainstream films, then "Red Cliff" shot by Li Yishu this time can definitely be regarded as the first commercial blockbuster since the founding of New China.

And this is a real blockbuster.

Not only does the creative team gather outstanding directors and actors from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong, but the production costs are also comparable to Hollywood A-level productions.

In addition, in the past, only some stills and behind-the-scenes photos occasionally appeared in newspapers, and no film was leaked, so the public had no idea how the filming was going. But as soon as the promotional video for the 30th Night came out, many viewers began to look forward to the release of the movie.

You can imagine how popular it is.

Sichuan and Shu.

Splendid Garden.

At the entrance of the villa, Zhao Xue held her grandson in her arms and waved to Li Yishu who was putting on shoes at the door: "Tuan Tuan, say goodbye to Dad."

"no no!"

Zhao Xue smiled and said, "Tuantuan, don't you want your dad to leave?"

"Yes! Yes!"

Tuantuan waved his hand. He couldn't speak very well yet. He could only call dad, mom, grandma, grandpa, and occasionally utter words like "no" and "want".

"Haha." Looking at the grown-up son, Li Yishu walked over, hugged her son, kissed him a few times, and then returned the child to his mother.

Then he said to Lin's father, mother and elder brother in the living room: "Mom, Dad, elder brother, elder sister-in-law, I'm leaving first. If you have nothing to do during this period, you can have more fun in Sichuan and Shu."

Father Lin smiled and nodded and agreed: "Okay, don't worry about us, go and do your work if you are busy, Qingxia will take care of us." He said a few more words.

Li Yishu then left with Qingxia. Before leaving, he put on a mask.

There are many articles reporting on him in newspapers these days, and many of them have published photos of his past awards. With such a large-scale news bombardment, he will definitely be recognized if he walks on the street.

Got in the car.

Qingxia drove to the airport.

"Thank you for your hard work during this period." Li Yishu said, "After the filming is finished, we will go to the United States for vacation together."

"Okay." Qingxia agreed with a smile: "When will the filming of Red Cliff be completed?"

Li Yishu thought for a moment and said, "It's estimated that we can wrap up the filming around April. If it goes fast, it can be done by the end of March."

The crew is now filming at a very fast pace and most of the scenes have been shot. Only the battle between Cao's army and the allied forces of Sun and Liu is left on land, which is also the final climax of the movie.

After filming this content, all that was left was a scene of Guan Yu releasing Cao Cao at Huarong Pass and the victory of the Sun-Liu coalition.

"So when are we going to America?"

Compared to her life in China, Qingxia actually prefers going to the United States. It’s not that the place is so good, but because she can take her son out for fun openly.

It is not like in China, where you have to cover up when going out, and it is not convenient to go to some public places, so you can only go to some deserted places in the suburbs.

There is nothing that can be done about this. Qingxia's face is still very popular among the people of both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong and Macau.

Even though she is not as good as Jackie Chan and Jet Li, she can be said to be on par with Gong Li in the field of actress.

If she was alone, it wouldn't matter if someone caught her taking photos, but with her son, that wouldn't work.

Qingxia didn't want to cause a stir because of her son's affairs.

The purpose of her retiring from the entertainment industry was to protect her son from being disturbed. Otherwise, as long as a photo of Qingxia holding her child was published, it would instantly trigger public opinion.

It’s hard to say about the mainland, but the journalists and paparazzi in Hong Kong and Taiwan will probably go crazy trying to find out who the father of the child is.

Li Yishu said, "May or June? I'm already looking for people to prepare the crew for the movie Rush Hour that I'm working with Jackie Chan. After I finish filming this movie, I'll see Jackie Chan's schedule and then decide when to go to the United States to film."

“Where are we going to shoot?”

"It will mainly be filmed in Los Angeles and New York, and we will also have to go to France to film later."

Li Yishu said this and looked at Qingxia with a smile: "If you want to go to Los Angeles earlier, we can go there in March."

"March?" Qingxia was puzzled.

"I have to audition actors in March."

Lee Ye-seo said, “There are a few important roles that I need to audition for.”

As for the black actor in "Rush Hour", Lee Yi-su prefers to use the original Chris Tucker.

On the one hand, this guy has a great sense of humor, and on the other hand, he and Cheng Long have great chemistry.

The reason why the movie Rush Hour was a global hit is largely due to the combination of Jackie Chan's kung fu comedy and Chris Tucker's American humor.

These days, there are only a few black actors that Lee Yi-su has left a deep impression on, and Smith is the only black actor who can perform in this kind of funny style.

But now Smith is the box office guarantee of the new generation. Although he has not reached the level of King Smith in a few years, he has already made his mark.

The budget of this movie is just over 30 million US dollars, and Smith's salary is too expensive and not cost-effective.

"March is too early. Forget it. Let's go in April or May."

Qingxia thought about it and decided to go there later.

It's already February 2st, and there's not much time left until March.

Next, she will take her parents, older brother and sister-in-law to play in Sichuan for a while.

We will have to go to Taiwan together and stay for a while. It would be best to go in April or May.

"Row."

Li Yishu nodded and said nothing more.

Li Yishu was flying to Jinhua and preparing to take a local bus to Yuhang to visit Yu Feihong's family to wish them a happy New Year.

Hong Kong TVB on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.

It can be described as deserted.

Uncle Shaw and his wife Fang Yihua arrived at the TVB building by car at around 8:30 as usual.

As soon as I came in, I found that there were too few staff members at the TV station.

Uncle Shao looked at Fang Yihua in confusion: "Isn't today the fourth day of the Lunar New Year? Why are there so few staff members in the station?"

"Maybe they are all busy." Fang Yihua supported Uncle Shao Liu and said with a smile: "Sixth Brother, go back to the office and sit down first. I will ask someone."

"Ah."

Uncle Shao nodded, not taking it too seriously. After returning to the office with Fang Yihua, his secretary immediately made some tea for him.

Fang Yihua gave a few instructions to the secretary, asking her to look after Uncle Six, and then quickly left the chairman's office.

After she returned to her office, she immediately called General Manager He Dingjun to ask what happened today.

We resumed work on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. Why are there visibly fewer people in the studio?

He Dingjun on the other end of the phone hesitated and said, "Mrs. Fang, this matter is a bit complicated. I'm coming up now to report to you in person."

complex?

Fang Yihua frowned and said, "Okay, then come over."

after awhile.

General Manager He Dingjun hurried to Fangtai’s office.

Fang Yihua took two sips of tea and said calmly, "Tell me what happened."

"Mrs. Fang, I received a lot of resignation letters this morning..."

"Resignation letter? What the hell is going on!"

"I asked someone and found out that all those who resigned went to Asia Television. I suspect that they were poached by people from Asia Television."

He Dingjun felt like his head was about to explode. He was appointed general manager of wireless television broadcasting business just last year, and was in charge of the TV station's broadcasting business.

But who would have thought that we would encounter such a big trouble on the first day of work just after the beginning of the new year.

"Push to the street!"

Fang Yihua slammed the table and said angrily, "How can ATV do this? They are poaching people again. What do they want to do? And these people who resigned went to ATV to work without our permission. They must have breached the contract. Sue them!"

"Mrs. Fang, I'm afraid they won't worry about suing."

He Dingjun said helplessly: "These people didn't resign earlier or later, but chose to resign on the fourth day of the Chinese New Year this year. It must have been premeditated. Even if we sue them, ATV will pay the penalty for their breach of contract." (End of this chapter)