Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 432: The Night Banquet Incident

Zhang Chen’s blog has always been the focus of attention of major media, and people will repost it immediately after it is published.

Communities on major portals such as Mop, Rongshuxia, and Tianya have pinned this article to the top. Zhang Chen's comments have always been the secret to traffic, and as long as he is there, there is no need to worry about the level of discussion.

The print media are also not idle. Since they don’t cost money, readers still like to read them.

Then it became lively.

Netizens offered their assists:

"I support Zhang Chen. I hate these experts and professors the most~"

"That's right, is the movie made for the common people or for you? You keep licking my face all day long~"

"I learned a lot and finally understood what a circle is~"

"No wonder so many people started out by making art films, so that's how it works~"

"I've been fed up with this bunch of shitty professors for a long time. A Quiet Place is such a good movie, but they criticize it every day. Why didn't you criticize The Promise back then?"

"Yes, yes, yes, why don't you guys criticize The Promise~"

"I know why, because Zhang Chen is not one of us.

If his family or elders are from the circle, then making these films will only receive applause, because that is good education and inheritance.

If you are not in the circle but succeed, you are a heretic and a kitsch...

Don’t ask me how I know, because I’m in the industry.”

"Damn, we just want to watch a movie happily, why is it so difficult?"

"I'm speechless. The one who asked why there was no PLA, have you really seen the movie? Are you criticizing just for the sake of criticizing? Is it so easy to be a professor?"

"And the guy who reported the bloody violence and called for the intervention of the juvenile protection organization, how could the movie be bloody? Are we watching the same movie?"

Netizens overwhelmingly support Zhang Chen.

Yes, is it so difficult for us to just watch a movie happily?

The discussion about "A Quiet Place" is very high, so there would be no hot searches at this time, otherwise "A Quiet Place" would definitely be number one.

The other side has resisted before, there is nothing else to say, but some people have seized on the point of plagiarism.

"A Quiet Place" plagiarized the setting of "Hold Your Breath" ~
What is Hold Your Breath?
Most people have seen it and don’t even know it.

Because this movie was not released in mainland China at all.

How can a cult film be released?

Only a few movie lovers have watched it online. Nowadays, the resources on the Internet are very complete, such as Yindianyuan, Shengcheng Home, and Feiniao Film and Television. You can find whatever you want to watch.

Unable to refute the argument, netizens began downloading "Hold Your Breath" and started watching it.

After watching them, I found that the settings are really a bit similar. Although the themes are different, one is about monsters and the other is about a blind old soldier, but both cannot make any sound.

It's not really plagiarism, but the settings are somewhat similar.

Then someone discovered that the screenwriter of this movie was named Steve Zhang.

Who is Steve Zhang? Judging from his name, he must be Chinese.

Someone thought of something and looked up the movie that Zhang Chen collaborated with New Line. "Eden Lake" was also not released in mainland China, but it also had resources on the three major piracy forums.

Then they discovered that Steve Zhang was also listed as the screenwriter of "Eden Lake".

And everyone knows that "Eden Lake" is a collaborative project between Zhang Chen and New Line.

The case was solved, Steve Zhang is Zhang Chen.

This is funny. You said Zhang Chen plagiarized Zhang Chen?
haha~
Immediately, some people with a curious mind posted this situation online, causing a commotion online.

Zhang Chen, you should be an honest person. How could you plagiarize yourself?

Director Zhang, you secretly made another movie abroad without making a sound. If it weren't for our netizens' sharp eyes, you would have gotten away with it.
Thanks to the netizens for their keen observation, they tore off Zhang Chen's hypocritical mask and gave us another movie to watch.

Zhang Chen, how many things have you done behind our backs?
Zhang Chen was also happy to share the joy with the people and immediately posted a message:
“Thanks to all the netizens for speaking out, which let me know that I am not fighting alone.

I am also wondering, why is it so difficult to make a good movie for everyone?

At the same time, I sincerely admire the mysterious abilities of netizens. You guys were able to find out my hidden account that I tried every means to hide. That's amazing~
Well, I will be frank. Steve Zhang is me. I am Steve Zhang. I was wrong. I am guilty. I should not have concealed my identity~"

The experts and professors did not expect that they originally wanted to find fault with Zhang Chen, but unexpectedly they made the other party famous.

Zhang Chen didn't expect the other party to apologize directly or anything.

impossible!

Everyone has different positions, and Zhang Chen's exposure of the problem is equivalent to digging up other people's roots.

It's almost like they are irreconcilable~!

In the past, these people could monopolize the right to interpret movies. It didn’t matter what the movie was actually like, what mattered was what they said. Ordinary people all took the opinions of these experts and professors as a reference.

In fact, it is easy to understand why these people do this. As mentioned in the blog, they can't understand the movies made by Zhang Chen.

Filmmakers are also human beings and they are subject to the times.

The older generation will not understand or be used to watching things shot by young people.
At the Weibo Night in later generations, Guo Fan spoke on the stage about the future of domestic science fiction films, while Zhang Yimou in the audience looked confused.

why?
Because he doesn't understand.

The two can be regarded as representatives of the new and old generations of domestic directors.

Guo Fan represents the new force, while Zhang Yimou represents the old generation.

But even Zhang Yimou couldn't make a science fiction film like Guo Fan, the reason is that this film is beyond his cognition.

Just like people always say that a person cannot make money beyond his cognition, a director cannot make a film beyond his cognition.

The complexity of "The Wandering Earth" may be handled by some people of the older generation, but not everyone can understand the industrial design involved.

They couldn't understand the "Pacific Rim" that Zhang Chen was tinkering with, and they couldn't even understand the concept map of Storm Red.

I don't understand why such a movie is so popular.

Because this thing is beyond their cognition, science fiction films are not included in European film theory.

This is the reason why they strongly oppose Zhang Chen. The things Zhang Chen tinkers with make them feel more and more threatened. The previous works such as The Shallows and Manslaughter only made them feel different, but now they are completely confused by A Quiet Place and Pacific Rim...

In the third week, due to the popularity brought by blogs and debates, the box office of "A Quiet Place" rose again, and it was even showing signs of catching up with the second week.

"The Banquet" was released in a hurry, and the premiere was held at the Grand Hyatt Wangfujing Hotel.

It is said that it was a grand occasion.

It is known as the Chinese version of Hamlet.

The Wang brothers are very ambitious. It is said that they did not plan to let Feng Xiaogang shoot the film at the beginning, but instead approached Jiang Wen.

Later, Jiang Wen had no time, so he gave it to Feng Xiaogang.

Why is it called "Night Banquet"? It is said that the name comes from "Night Banquet of Han Xizai".

"Night Revels of Han Xizai" tells the story of the emperor asking a painter to monitor Han Xizai. Han Xizai held parties every day to confuse the painter, and the surveillance report submitted by the painter was "Night Revels of Han Xizai".

In fact, there are many similar stories in history. I don’t know why it is called "Night Banquet".

This movie has always been said to be a bad movie, mainly because of the incongruous dialogues and the dragging plot, and the audience felt cheated.

Xiao Gangpao thought that The Banquet was a Chinese version of Hamlet, a commercial blockbuster with an artistic atmosphere, and the actors were also the top lineup at the time. The audience thought that The Banquet was a Feng-style comedy by Feng Xiaogang and Ge You.

Since there is a cognitive bias, of course people will give low scores in retaliation.

At the beginning, the score of "Night Banquet" on Douban was only 4.3 points, and then it gradually rose to 6 points.

Inside Xingchen Entertainment Company, Dong Jianqiang was watching "The Banquet" on his computer.

Zhang Chen was confused when he saw it: "Where did you get the pirated disc?"

"It's not a pirated disc, I downloaded it from the Internet~"

Zhang Chen was surprised and suspicious: "There are pirated resources leaked so quickly? Are ours also leaked?"

"Don't worry, we can't say that we don't have any, but it's very rare..."

"?"

"I arranged for people to check online very early. When they found pirated resources, they immediately warned the parties to remove them from the shelves. Yindianyuan, Shengcheng Home, and Feiniao Films were all the key targets of the investigation~"

"Will they be obedient?"

"Don't forget our reputation in the circle. I told them clearly that if they don't cooperate, I will let you expose them. With your fame, as long as you mention their names, no one will dare to protect them even if they have connections..."

Zhang Chen nodded. Dong Jianqiang’s idea was indeed feasible.

People who run pirated websites are not afraid of being sued by you.

Even if you threaten to sue him, he won't bother to pay any attention to you.

But it’s different if it’s exposed by Zhang Chen. Given Zhang Chen’s popularity among the people, the relevant departments must give an explanation as long as he names them.

Moreover, Xingchen Entertainment likes to offer bounties all the time. If a hacker who offers bounties messes with them, it will be too much for them.
“You are quite knowledgeable about this~”

"Not only that, I also went after Baidu and Google. I asked them to block pirated resources. They were being hypocritical at first, so I found a friend in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology..."

"and then?"

"Then they contacted me and said that they couldn't block it, but they could rank it dozens of pages later..."

"Haha, you're really good~"

Piracy has always been a headache for major film and television companies, but I didn’t expect Dong Jianqiang to solve it with just a few tricks.

However, he also knew that this was only a temporary solution, and it would take until the country began to pay attention to this issue before it could be formalized.

I don’t know why, but when I think of legalization, I suddenly think of Jia Yueting and his LeTV.

His fellow villager from the coal-mining province started his business by hoarding genuine products.

It also left behind a series of memes - returning to China next week and the PPT God of War.

The most amazing thing is that even though the boss has fled to the United States, LeTV is still doing well. The 30 or so employees are self-sufficient, work in a very relaxed manner, and each of them earns 30 yuan a year.

Where did the money come from?

It is not the profit from genuine products.

Without large expenses, the income alone is more than enough to support a company of 30 people.

It's a miracle~
So it can definitely be done.

Although Zhang Chen doesn't know Jia Yueting, he can try this path.

By then, the PPT God of War will have nowhere to go, and maybe he won’t have to hide abroad anymore.

But since when did the country start to pay attention to this?

Back to "The Banquet" ~
The box office of "Night Banquet" was not very good. After all, Zhang Ziyi had no box office appeal.

It's simply because of his fame!
In the film industry, he had no appeal and no national popularity, and he didn't even have a basic base. He was nothing like Fan Xiaopang now.

Zhang Chen also hyped this aspect a lot~
You do the first day, I do the fifteenth.
What did you do to "A Quiet Place"? Now I will give it back to you~
He didn't directly say that "The Banquet" was bad, but he kept criticizing Zhang Ziyi. Compare Zhang Ziyi with Fan Xiaopang~
All-round, all-around comparison~
Compare appearance, compare acting skills, compare box office...

Comparing appearance, Zhang Ziyi is really no match.

In this life, thanks to Zhang Chen's advance development, Fan Xiaopang had already become a sexy goddess when she was in "The Shallows". Even ten Zhang Ziyi tied together couldn't beat her...

Comparing acting skills, Zhang Ziyi is better than Fan Xiaopang, after all, she is a professional actor.

But Fan Xiaopang is acting in a commercial film, so he doesn't need superb acting skills, just being adequate is fine.

Compared with the box office, it’s really a bit bullying.

It was revealed that the box office of "Jasmine" released last month was 580 million.

It’s not just a single day’s box office!
It’s the total box office!
Her golden body was completely broken.

Huayi even seemed to blame her for the box office failure of "The Banquet". Her treatment was almost the same as that of Lu Han more than ten years later.

Fan Xiaopang is on a completely different level. "A Quiet Place" was released simultaneously in North America, and various overseas reviews were brought in, which made Fan Xiaopang proud.

Zhang Ziyi was very embarrassed. Everyone had gold rims in their jewelry overseas, but mine was a little bigger. Why was there such a big difference?

Zhang Ziyi was in a state of panic, but Feng Xiaogang was still not satisfied and recruited another black fan for her, who was a shiny black fan.

The black fan is called Shao Shan, and she was originally the nude stand-in for Zhang Ziyi in “Night Banquet”.

Zhang suffered some injustice during the filming and he didn't respect others very much.

But he endured all this because Xiao Gangpao promised to give his name at the end of the film.

As a result, the film was released without his signature.

Shao Shan went to Feng Xiaogang to argue, but Feng refused to acknowledge her and said he didn't know her at all. Shao Shan wanted to take this opportunity to become famous.

Then Shao Shan turned evil.

The whole story was clearly laid out, and screenshots of chat records with crew members, photos of the filming site and other hard evidence were attached and posted online.

This immediately caused a huge uproar, and the Internet was in an uproar.

It was even more popular than the blog post posted by Zhang Chen.

On the Internet, countless female netizens expressed their sympathy for Shao Shan and criticized Xiao Gangpao's shamelessness.

Someone also interviewed Zhang Chen about his view on this matter. Zhang Chen looked regretful, "Director Feng's behavior was indeed a bit unkind. It was just a signature, which is actually nothing. If you forgot, just say you forgot. I think it's not good to put the blame on someone else."

Zhang Chen’s support directly brought the incident to a new level of popularity.

Shao Shan also got excited and started to reveal all kinds of information, which was as exciting as a storytelling session~
Later, she even got attached to Zhang Ziyi, and she used Zhang Ziyi's title in everything she did.
She got fat, went for liposuction, and there was even a "Zhang Ziyi nude stand-in Shao Shan liposuction press conference";
She got pregnant, and held a "Zhang Ziyi nude stand-in Shao Shan pregnancy good news media meeting";
The book was published, and the cover reads "Zhang Ziyi's nude stand-in Shao Shan reveals her own experience and reveals the hidden rules of the entertainment industry";
Zhang Ziyi was trembling!
To be fair, is the box office failure of "The Banquet" really all due to Zhang Ziyi? Definitely not.

What was Ge You thinking about playing the emperor?

As soon as he opened his mouth, it was like telling a joke~
The director also has problems
The lines are extremely shocking, the rhythm is wrong, and it's too dragged out. These are all Feng Xiaogang's problems.

Apart from that, everything else is actually pretty good.

The level of the scenery, costumes, props and the overall visual effects are all very high, especially the costumes and music, which are top-notch!

It’s normal to be at the top level, there are big names behind the scenes!

Lang Lang's piano, Tan Dun's score, Zhang Li's photography, Tim Yip's art and costume design, even ten years later, this is still the movie with the highest configuration ever made by Hollywood.

The whole movie doesn't look like Feng Xiaogang's work, but more like Zhang Yimou's.

(End of this chapter)