Huayu has been doing one good deed a day since 2001

Chapter 110 Can playing the male lead be called a guest appearance? [Seeking monthly votes]

When Zhou Xingchi was leaving, he almost fell down because of Lao Li's inspiring words.

As Li Wenyu walked back to the crew, Ning Hao, who had accompanied him to see him off, asked suspiciously, "Director Li, you did this on purpose, didn't you? You specifically stabbed Stephen Chow in the area that matters most to him?"

Lao Ning and Xiao Yang continued to serve as assistant directors, traveling more and learning more.

Long before the filming of "Extreme Job" started, Ning Hao applied for the job and said that he would make his own movie after finishing it.

Li Wenyu supports Ning Hao, even though his first movie was not very popular.

But Lao Ning will be able to develop in the future and make a lot of money.

This time, even if Ning Hao continues to work on Crazy Stone after the incense is burned, Time will increase its investment.

Li Wenyu shook his head. "I'm not trying to provoke him. This is the nature of blockbuster movies. Hollywood's Jurassic trilogy grossed over $20 billion worldwide, which is over 160 billion RMB."

"The first Harry Potter film grossed over US$9 million worldwide, or billion RMB."

"For a big IP like Harry Potter, a truly large company will definitely continue to develop sequels, which will be a gold mine worth tens of billions of RMB."

Kung Fu now has the momentum to easily surpass the original.

This first one has been established and is the original IP of Stephen Chow and Columbia.

The next moment, Lao Li continued, "Kung Fu 1 has a good chance of breaking billion RMB worldwide. It's not as good as the tens of billions a foreign franchise can make, but if , , and are done well, it won't be difficult to reach a scale of several billion."

Ning Hao, Xiao Yang and Pang Bing were all stunned by what they heard.

Pang Bing asked curiously, "So, if director Zhang Yimou's Hero has grossed over 17 billion RMB worldwide, why would he still be filming House of Flying Daggers? He should just keep preparing for Hero 2."

House of Flying Daggers is about to start.

Li Wenyu stared at Pang Bing for more than ten seconds. Pang Bing hesitated and asked, "What's wrong?"

Old Li sighed, "Although I just said this casually, if your words get out, I guess Senior Brother Zhang will stop filming Ten Flanking Daggers."

Fat Bing, Ning Hao and Xiao Yang were stunned again.

Is it that magical?

…………

Sometimes some things are just magical.

On the evening of July 7, the crew of Kung Fu hosted a celebration banquet in Hong Kong Island for the film’s box office revenue exceeding 12 million yuan in China.

Li Wenyu, as the boss of publicity and promotion, was facing waves of people coming to greet and exchange pleasantries with Pang Bing when he saw Zhang Yimou coming with Zhang Ziyi and Zhang Weiping.

After a brief toast and pleasantries, Zhang Weiping took the initiative to ask, "Mr. Li, I heard a while ago that if Director Zhang made Hero 2, he would make more money than House of Flying Daggers?"

There’s no such thing as a while ago, it was just two days ago!

It’s not that Pang Bing and others are too talkative and can’t control their mouths at all.

It was Li Wenyu who took the initiative to spread the news. House of Flying Daggers was a terrible movie, and the subsequent City Full of Big Buns was also a terrible movie.

This has repeatedly eroded the expectations of film producers, including Chinese and international movie fans, for Chinese films and Chinese-language films.

Without so many audiences and good box office results, it is not good for the entire market.

Li Wenyu smiled and nodded. "That's common sense, right? Why do Hollywood blockbusters like to adapt bestsellers? Isn't it because bestsellers have a fan base?"

"We finally made a big IP popular, why would we give it up and scrap it?"

You said that the hero has been filmed, so why make a 2nd one? That depends on the screenwriter.

Zhang Weiping was speechless.

Instead, Zhang Yimou said happily, "Director Li is right. Director Li is a top talent that is rarely seen in a century at Beijing Film Academy. I have long said that the script of House of Flying Daggers is still not mature enough."

"We can't rush the shooting. This has to be done step by step. Mr. Zhang, you have to give me more time."

Lao Mouzi has artistic pursuits.

During this period of the original trajectory, he was obsessed with winning an Oscar, whether it was Mancheng Da Mantou, Kaizi's Wuji, or Xiaogangpao Yeyan.

These are all adaptations of Chinese costume blockbusters that incorporate the core stories of Western dramas.

All for the Oscar.

As for the repeated failures, it’s because the three directors told the story too poorly.

So Zhang Yimou is still not satisfied with the script of House of Flying Daggers and needs to work on it slowly. It is Zhang Weiping who has been urging you to hurry up.

The other party looked like he couldn't wait to turn on the computer.

Is the current plot of "House of Flying Daggers" still stuck in the ancient story of police catching thieves, two men and one woman in love? Adding an undercover agent?

If you change the story to a modern urban setting, it's simply something that Hong Kong films have done to death.

Is it really going to be launched so quickly? They're being rushed to get it online to cheat people out of money!
Zhang Weiping, "I'm not rushing you too much, am I?"

Li Wenyu took the initiative to clink glasses with Mr. Zhang, "It's okay. With Senior Brother Zhang's background and the influence he gained from his heroic deeds, it won't stop him from making tens of millions by making a terrible movie next time."

"At most, Senior Brother Zhang's reputation will collapse and he'll get criticized a bit. He's already getting a lot of criticism from people out there. If we mess up next time, we can always have another chance."

It would be better for Lao Li not to comfort me.

Pang Bing laughed so hard that he covered his mouth with his hand. He handed the wine glass in his other hand to Zhang Ziyi and pinched Lao Li on the waist.

Zhang Yimou's hero received a lot of criticism? This is purely the public intellectuals of this era stirring up trouble.

Li Wenyu has finished filming The Shallows and The Sound of Music, and people like Kaizi and Lu Chuan deserve to be scolded.

Zhang Yimou clinked his glasses with Lao Li, feeling both grateful and annoyed. "Director Li is right. Thank you for your kind words. Cheers."

He really didn't want to launch the ambush so soon.

It's a very simple thing. The script of the Hero movie was changed four times and it took four years to make. Even after the Hero was taken off the screen, the production was stopped for a few months.

The script for House of Flying Daggers had only been in the works for over a year, and he was still far from being satisfied with it.

Zhang Ziyi interrupted with a smile, "Director Li's screenwriting talent is definitely the best in the past hundred years at Beijing Film Academy. Others aren't as talented. We really can't be too hasty."

"But if we turn around and make Heroes 2 now, is there really hope?"

Li Wenyu laughed, "Who's the leading male character in the movie Hero?"

Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping responded without hesitation, "Jet Li's nameless."

Old Li stopped talking and drank quietly.

The others were confused, weren't they?
Li Wenyu drank all the wine. When Fat Bing poured him some more, he frowned and said, "I think that when Senior Brother asked Wuming to give up the assassination of King Qin and commit suicide, he had already stated the reason for his suicide."

"The only protagonists of this blockbuster are Qin Shi Huang and the Qin Dynasty."

"It should be said that it was the First Emperor who laid the foundation for the unification of China. This is something that many European countries could never dream of."

Several people continued to look at each other.

It was Zhang Weiping who clinked his glasses and said, "Director Li, if you are willing to cooperate, can we really try to work together to shoot Hero 2?"

Zhang Yimou has artistic aspirations and wants to win an Oscar.

Zhang Weiping just wants to make money!
So after Hero, Zhang Yimou's works plummeted to House of Flying Daggers, Big Steamed Bun and The Three Shots Shocking Case!!

Li Wenyu laughed and said, "We'll see. You need to think about this carefully."

After chatting and laughing with a few people for a while, when Zhang Yimou and Zhang Ziyi left, Pang Bing asked curiously, "Is there a second part for Hero? Is the First Emperor the protagonist?"

Li Wenyu nodded, "This is the rise of a great power before the Common Era!"

It's not difficult to make a second film for a hero, and it's easy to make a high-quality hit. If it weren't for the unification of the Qin Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system, it would have established a unified structure for China that lasted for more than 2000 years.

Books and writing cars move in the same track.

Well, many things are really hard to say.

A few years later, the documentary series "The Rise of Great Powers" was so well-made, all about the rise of great powers, that it gained a very good reputation.

Here comes a Chinese version of the rise of a great power before the Common Era.

This will definitely be a box office hit in Asia, and as for its reputation, it all depends on the quality of the filming.

The fake protagonist in Heroes is nameless.

The second part only needs to portray the unification of the six kingdoms, the standardization of writing and wheel gauge, and the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, etc. It will definitely be a super epic blockbuster.

That kind of overwhelming sweep across the six kingdoms is much more awesome than The Lord of the Rings.

This is not a martial arts series at all, it's a series about the rise of a great Eastern power.

Wu Baige's Red Cliff series is hundreds of light years behind heroic sequels like this.

Even though it is only a few years after the millennium, the national confidence and other aspects are several times worse than they would be 20 years later, because this is an era when public intellectuals are everywhere.

If Hero 2 follows this route, its reputation will not collapse even after 20 years.

This is much better than House of Flying Daggers, Big Steamed Bun, Kaizi's Wuji, Orphan of Zhao, etc.

If Zhang Weiping really considers giving up "House of Flying Daggers" and making Hero 2, Time Media can also invest in it.

Hero 2 is written as the prologue to the rise of a great power, with a post-credits Easter egg mentioning the Roman Republic and then the Roman Empire.

This is the ancient interaction between the East and the West.

When Qin Shi Huang conquered the six kingdoms and unified China, it was the time when the Roman consul Regulus was fighting the Punic Wars.

…………

July 7, great heat.

The crew of Extreme Job started filming smoothly. After Li Wenyu finished shooting a take, Li Jiaxin, who came to visit the set, brought him a bottle of drink and said with a smile, "Kung Fu Hustle's box office in mainland China in the first weekend and three weeks was 1.68 million RMB."

"Hong Kong Island took in HK$7300 million, and the screening rate has dropped to 30%. Taiwan has also accumulated HK$7500 million. It's a huge success. Our national box office will easily exceed HK$3 million."

According to these data, new movies from Hong Kong and Macau have started to be released one after another, and the screening rate has been gradually increased.

There are a limited number of large screens in mainland China, and there are still a large number of movie fans waiting to go to the cinema to watch movies.

According to Hero's anti-piracy and long-term screening model, Kung Fu plus another ticket event, it is very certain that the total box office will exceed 3 million.

Overall, the mainland and Hong Kong and Macau can total more than 5 million.

In just the past two or three years, China has produced a series of blockbusters that have grossed 50 to 60 million US dollars, which still cannot catch up with the island country's vote bank, but is not much behind South Korea's vote bank.

After sighing, Ah Xin smiled and said, "Ah Yu, the new movie you prepared for me is good, but I think you would be the most handsome if you played the male lead as a guest star..."

Old Li was stunned. "Playing the leading man is also called a guest appearance??"

Ah Xin is not very career-oriented.

But she was free anyway, so she saw that Fat Bing was ready to star in The Martian and The Hunger Games Part 1 and Part 2.

After much private negotiation, Lao Li also got her to get a new script and movie, which was a Chinese adaptation of the 2019 South Korean version of Extreme Escape.

This is an action, disaster, light comedy popcorn movie. The original track took in 6900 million US dollars at the global box office!

This is data for films that have not been released in mainland China.

The movie has done well in terms of both box office and word of mouth, especially after 2019. Even mainland movie fans have watched countless movies, and the United States has begun to evolve into the era of black Captain America.

It’s not bad to have a good reputation.

Li Jiaxin is the leading actress. Apart from other things, it won't be a problem for the box office to exceed 1.5 million RMB given the trend in the mainland.

The male lead confessed his love to the female lead in the play, but was rejected.

In "My Love from the Star", the hugging and kissing scenes between the male and female protagonists were shot out of place, but this movie has none of that. The main plot is about a poisonous gas filling many streets and people escaping from a high altitude.

Li Wenyu had no intention of being the director and was going to hand it over to Xiao Yang to direct.

This is a big action movie about the male protagonist. It tells the story of the male protagonist who can't find a good job after several years of graduation, has no girlfriend, and is unemployed and a loser at home.

Just because he exercises every day, many old ladies in the community praise him for his youth and good health.

A family went to celebrate a relative's 70th birthday. When they went to a hotel, they encountered an extremely antisocial engineer who had been pushed to the limit by capital and was driving a tanker truck to release poison gas in the downtown area.

The poisonous gas was spreading and there was no way to go on the ground.

The male protagonist can only use the skills he has practiced through rock climbing to climb outdoor buildings again and again to save his family.

Then he crawled around with the heroine, trying to survive among the skyscrapers in the downtown area like Spider-Man.

Whether it is outdoor rock climbing or climbing a building, or jumping from one rooftop to another.

They all have a little bit of Jackie Chan's shocking jump in Rumble in the Bronx that shocked Hollywood.

Of course, the stunning jump in Extreme Escape is much easier than Jackie Chan's jump. What is more exciting is the male protagonist's rock-climbing-style twists and turns outside the building.

Compared to Tom Cruise climbing the Burj Khalifa in Mission: Impossible 4, the difficulty is much lower, and Mission: Impossible 4 was released in 2011.

It's only 2003 now, and if the movie is well made, the male lead will also become famous.

Li Wenyu expects the male lead to be chosen between Zhang Jin and Wu Jing. If the performance is good, there is a high probability that the box office in mainland China will exceed 1.5 million or 2 million.

This is the new female lead of Li Jiaxin’s new film after her performance in My Love from the Star became popular in Asia!
During this period, Ah Xin was ten times more popular than the original female lead, Yoona.

In 2019, Yoona Lim was 29 years old and could be considered out of date.

As for choosing Wu Jing or Zhang Jin, it mainly depends on their performance in literary dramas. Shi Guang is already discussing transferring Wu Jing's agency contract.

Just pay a small penalty and sign the person.

Now Wu Jing and Zhang Jinwen's acting skills are just average. The first ten minutes of Extreme Escape show the family drama between the male protagonist and his family.

This requires the male lead to show one third of the decadence and sense of comedic struggle that Zhou Xingchi showed at the beginning of The King of Comedy.

The requirement is only three points, which makes it a bit difficult for Wu Jing and Zhang Jin.

The problem is, if you perform well, it will become a masterpiece and a chance for you to become a huge star!

He talked to Zhang Jin privately, without telling him the plot of the script, but just said that after filming "Extreme Job", if you want to be the male lead, do you have the confidence to make a big splash like Jackie Chan in "Rumble in the Bronx"?

The new movie is a big action disaster, and the male lead needs to be proficient in rock climbing.

If he performs well, he can become like Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and make his way into Hollywood with his action movies.

Zhang Jin was driven crazy by the excitement.

Now all that’s missing is the drama!

Li Wenyu was not really worried about the two men's skills and movements.

He was numb, but he still stood up and comforted Ah Xin, "I'll practice rock climbing with you. Some scenes can be edited with special effects, but rock climbing is also fun."

"The director has decided to give it to Xiao Yang. The male lead jumping off the balcony and climbing rocks are all good, but the literary scenes will take at least a few months of preparation to immerse yourself in the role."

This project can only be done slowly.

There is no rush. Among the works he had scheduled for this year, the filming of Blue Jasmine has been postponed to the end of the year. He can only aim for the Berlin or Cannes Film Festival in 2004, and the Oscars in 2005.

(End of this chapter)