I really don't want to be the top streamer anymore

Throughout the year, the Spring Festival period has the highest box office share.

For a period of time after the end of the Spring Festival, the film market is almost always in a cold period.

Although the May Day holiday is not a popular period, it can be regarded as the first time after the Spring Festival that the number of moviegoers will show a significant increase.

In addition to the subsequent summer season, although the competition during the May Day season in the first half of the year is not particularly fierce, there will still be many movies that choose to be released during this period.

What’s special this year is that both Changyun and Fengxiang companies announced that their new movies will be released on May Day.

Subsequently, many movies that were planned to be released during the May Day holiday were postponed to the summer vacation.

Even several movies that had already been scheduled chose to postpone their release dates in a tacit understanding.

……

"Mr. Li, I don't think this is necessary."

"Does it mean that every time we come across Xu Kong's movies in the future, we have to avoid them?"

As for Huayuan Film and Television, their new movie had originally been planned to be released on May Day, but was forced to postpone it by the company.

As a director, Ping Ye was naturally dissatisfied.

"That's not necessary, and the summer season will also give your film a higher ceiling."

"The company has high expectations for your new work this time."

Li Wanshu answered calmly.

Mainly based on comfort.

Ping Ye, a young director in his early thirties, has only made two films before, but his commercial performance and even audience reputation are very good.

He is considered one of the more promising young directors in the company.

……

It’s normal for young people to have high aspirations.

It is definitely impossible to admit that I am not as good as Xu Kong.

Not to mention Xu Kong, even any of the well-known domestic directors would not take it seriously.

Ping Ye may not know the answer, but as the vice president, he cannot be completely ignorant.

The biggest reason for avoiding the May Day period is naturally because "Infernal Affairs" was directed by Xu Kong.

No one dares to ignore Xu Kong’s second movie.

He had conducted a fairly detailed investigation and analysis of Xu Kong.

Especially after Xu Kong began to take over Fengge's film and television business.

If we say that a considerable part of the scripts Xu Kong wrote for others were written from a commercial perspective, their reputation cannot be said to be particularly outstanding.

The script that Xu Kong wrote for himself almost took into account the balance between word-of-mouth and business.

Like his first film "Sweet Honey", many people only know that the movie won many awards and made Xu Kong the youngest actor in the country.

But the film’s box office performance was also strong.

Especially its overseas box office performance, it even caught up with those Hong Kong films from the Huang Jiang era that were once the most popular in the overseas market.

……

This time, Xu Kong directly invited two movie emperors from Hong Kong.

At the same time, he also made an appearance in the film.

The whole movie seems to have a large investment scale. Although it is in the style of Hong Kong's former police and gangster films, there is almost no need to worry too much about Xu Kong's script and story.

In other words, Xu Kong absolutely put all his efforts into making this movie.

The previous Spring Festival movie "Operation Red Sea" alone has already swept the entire Spring Festival period. This time, Huayuan will definitely not be stubborn.

Avoid it if you can; this is the most sensible decision.

What’s more, it’s only the May Day period, and the summer period with larger traffic has not yet arrived.

For Huayuan Film and Television, this is not a big deal at all.

However, Ping Ye, as a director, took the initiative to come to him, which did give Li Wanshu a headache.

……

"Boss Li, I've really thought about it. We may not lose."

"To be honest, the Hong Kong police and gangster movies were actually phased out by the market many years ago."

“I have confidence in my work.”

Ping Ye continued to speak.

However, Li Wanshu no longer had the patience he had at the beginning.

His expression became serious, and then he said directly:
"This matter is non-negotiable."

"It's all the company's decision. Your investment in this movie is over 300 million. We must make sure everything is under control."

Ping Ye had no way to deal with the powerful Li Wanshu at this time.

Although he is the director, the investment in the entire film is from the company. For example, he can give his own ideas on the specific release time, including the subsequent publicity and promotion plans, but he has no real decision-making power.

Sometimes he envied Xu Kong, who was so young and had already become one of the assets.

There is no need to consider the opinions of investors and companies in these aspects anymore.

……

"I will continue to apply to the chairman."

"I will also convey Mr. Li's attitude truthfully."

In the end, Ping Ye could only say this and turn around and leave.

As for Li Wanshu, he was also helpless.

This is not the first time that these people under the company have done this.

Especially for famous directors or actors who have achieved success and confidence, it is sometimes really difficult to deal with them.

As the vice president of the company, in the eyes of the other party, he is still just an employee, and a layman who does not understand professional knowledge.

So similar situations have happened more than once.

But Li Wanshu didn't care.

He certainly couldn't agree to it himself.

After all, if he nodded, the movie would be completely defeated by Xu Kong and Feng Ge.

The losses of subsequent projects may be traced back to me.

As for what Ping Ye said just now about going to see the chairman, Li Wanshu could only say that he was looking forward to it.

If they really agree, then it will have nothing to do with him at that time.

Although he has now become the vice president of a large company like Huayuan Film and Television.

But Li Wanshu still adheres to the workplace conduct standards that he has adhered to for so many years.

It is possible that there are no particularly outstanding achievements, but it is absolutely impossible to take the blame that should not be taken.

……

"The publicity and promotion effect in the mainland is better than we thought."

"Feng Ge's advice is that we can slightly reduce our investment in this area in the future."

“Because it might be too much.”

Although Fengxiang Pictures had some understanding of Xu Kong's popularity and Feng Ge's current popularity, it was only now that the release date of Infernal Affairs was set that they truly experienced what it was like.

Cao Bentao did not hesitate at all and answered directly:
"Fengge knows the mainland market better than we do, so we just do what they say."

In fact, although there are two Hong Kong movie kings participating in the film, the cast is definitely strong enough.

However, the influence of the two movie emperors in mainland China has already entered a period of decline.

The main reason why "Infernal Affairs" has attracted so much attention this time is the director Xu Kong himself.

In fact, what Cao Bentao thought at the beginning was that as long as Xu Kong was willing to shoot, there would be nothing wrong in letting these well-known movie stars under their company play supporting roles for Xu Kong.

Unexpectedly, Xu Kong himself actually only appeared in the first few scenes of the movie, and the main roles were still focused on Shi Rui and Ji Bang.

Apart from that, the style of the film still retains the flavor of traditional Hong Kong films.

More authentic than he'd thought at the time.

Needless to say, the script is very impressive. It is not inferior to the classic movies in Hong Kong before, and it is even quite impressive. …

"By the way, what about Hong Kong City?"

“What was everyone’s reaction like after the release date?”

Cao Bentao asked.

In fact, the current Hong Kong film market is not small.

But compared with the mainland market which has already exceeded 10 billion, it is really not enough.

It’s just that after all, it’s my base, so I definitely need to pay more attention to it.

“It’s much better than we expected!”

"Especially Director Xu, he is very popular in Hong Kong."

"Some young people in Hong Kong have already started to help promote and discuss the issue on their own initiative."

"However, we will maintain our previous plan for publicity and promotion. Some billboards and promotional posters will probably be put up next week."

The person in charge of the publicity and promotion of Infernal Affairs answered in detail.

……

"Oh?"

"Xu Kong is also very popular in Hong Kong City?"

Cao Bentao was a little surprised, even though Xu Kong’s previous movie "Sweet Honey" won the box office championship in Hong Kong last year.

However, most of Xu Kong’s TV dramas are not directly broadcast here.

"Well, Mr. Cao, you may not know that Director Xu's plays and some of his songs are also very popular among young people in Hong Kong."

"And now many young people in Hong Kong are also using software from the mainland."

"Of course, compared to some other mainland dramas, Xu Kong is indeed the only artist who can have such high popularity."

Cao Bentao nodded thoughtfully.

In fact, he could feel it too.

In fact, Xu Kong himself does give people the feeling that he is the only superstar of this era who has developed all-rounded in film, television and music.

In Hong Kong's golden age, people like Shi Rui, Ji Banghe and others did have their own advantages.

Almost able to shoot and sing.

But with the development of subsequent eras, there are almost no similar superstar-level artists appearing again.

This is caused by the background of the times and various complex factors.

But Xu Kong is very special. He is even more versatile than the veteran Hong Kong superstars like Shi Rui and Ji Banghe.

This is a path I'm taking entirely based on my own abilities and talents.

Cao Bentao felt that it was only a matter of time before Xu Kong became famous abroad.

Not to mention Hong Kong, which is already in China. Although it is somewhat different from the mainland, Xu Kong’s high popularity does not seem to be difficult to understand.

……

"Infernal Affairs" will be released in May, and I will definitely need to attend some related premiere events afterwards.

For Xu Kong, he has been staying in the crew filming during this period.

But according to the current shooting progress, there will definitely be no problem in wrapping up the filming by the end of April.

The shooting period was shortened by almost half compared to the originally planned period.

This has a lot to do with Xu Kong himself participating in the show and staying in the crew.

"Director Guo, we may need to reshoot a few scenes we filmed earlier."

While filming, Xu Kong was also following Guo Jiayu to look at some previous materials from time to time.

"Okay, we should be able to finish the reshoot tomorrow afternoon."

Guo Jiayu has now completely adapted to Xu Kong's shooting style and speed.

Overall, he felt more confident now that the filming was almost completed.

The three leading actors in this movie all performed at their best.

Especially for several scenes with Xia Yuze, Xu Kong did not follow the script, but chose the version that the other party performed best on the spot.

In this regard, Guo Jiayu still admires Xu Kong very much.

When he was filming "Operation Red Sea" before, he was actually a little worried that Xu Kong would have too strong a desire to control the movie.

There is no room for personal expression.

But as the filming began, I looked at Xu Kong's storyboard design and the related ideas after communication.

But there was almost no doubt about Xu Kong's decision anymore.

Most of the time, what Xu Kong comes up with is the so-called optimal solution.

But even so, Xu Kong still asked for his thoughts on every scene and communicated very actively.

If the final result is that his idea is better, Xu Kong will support it without hesitation.

Especially in some fighting scenes, Xu Kong's action design was actually perfect in his opinion.

Xu Kong himself did not say that it must be one-to-one and just shot it according to his own ideas.

Some of his and Xia Yuze's ideas were adopted.

These are the scenes that were reshot this time.

……

"By the way, is Brother Chen's hand injury better?"

Xu Kong asked.

After all, Chen Shuang had hardly filmed many action scenes before.

Although the character he played didn't have many fighting scenes in the movie.

However, an accident occurred and he was injured during the filming process.

Fortunately, the injury was not serious.

However, the action scenes that were originally scheduled to be filmed in a short period of time have to be postponed temporarily.

"It should be almost recovered."

"When he arrives after the shooting starts, I'll go ask him."

Guo Jiayu answered.

Xu Kong nodded.

……

The filming of "The Warlords" was a little different from what Xu Kong had imagined.

Although as before, the original film is the best reference answer.

The filming process definitely went much smoother than normal.

But at the same time, the actors are always different, including the male lead, Xia Yuze, who is actually somewhat different from the actor in the previous life.

For some of the fighting scenes, letting Xia Yuze shoot according to his own style actually had better results.

Xu Kong was not someone who was not flexible, so of course he made adjustments based on the actual situation on the set.

At the same time, the role he played was actually not as deep as the male lead played by Xia Yuze.

He is more like a young man with a simple mind and a sense of loyalty.

The difficulty of the performance is also relatively low among the three male protagonists.

Although I felt a little pressure when acting opposite Xia Yuze and Chen Shuang.

But after performing the whole play, I didn't feel much pressure.

Xu Kong feels that with his current acting skills, he may be able to try some more difficult roles in the future.

He is also much older than when he first traveled through time. Some roles that were originally not suitable for him can now be put on the agenda for consideration with special styling and design.

...(End of chapter)