Entertainment: Who still wants to fall in love when there are cheats?

Chapter 183 Chu Xuan
After a week-long roadshow, Li Boda and Zhao Liying returned to their studio.

At this moment, Sister Wang said regretfully, "If only our movie could be released a little earlier than 'Mei Lanfang'."

"That's about right. The movie has been in theaters for a week now. Even without 'Mei Lanfang,' the box office would continue to decline," Li Boda said, shaking his head.

These days, the first three days after a movie's release are usually the best for box office revenue. If you're lucky, the box office performance won't fluctuate too much in the first week. But after that, the box office performance changes every day.

Because these days, there are just too many pirated movies.

If you can find pirated copies of a movie online three days after its release, that's considered pretty good. Some movies are even available online as early as the first day of their release.

So generally speaking, after a movie is released, the box office will plummet within a week at most.

Therefore, even without Chen Kaige's "Mei Lanfang" being released, the box office of "One Cut of the Dead" will still decline, and theaters will still reduce the number of screenings.

When Sister Wang heard what Li Boda said, she didn't say anything more, since she knew that what Li Boda said was true.

However, she couldn't help but feel excited when she thought about the box office success of the movie "One Cut of the Dead".

The studio's first film investment was a huge success, which is a great start!

Moreover, she did a lot of the work on this film. It can be said that she was responsible for everything on this film except for the roles of director and actors.

Putting everything else aside, just based on her qualifications alone, she could easily call herself an excellent film producer.

"Boss, we've received a lot of movie offers for you, including Lu Chuan's film 'Nanjing! Nanjing!' It's a big production, reportedly with an investment of over 200 million yuan, and the male lead is for a 200 million yuan blockbuster." Sister Wang was quite excited.

"A big production worth 200 million? I remember this Lu Chuan, he doesn't seem to have any outstanding works, does he?" Li Boda frowned.

“Of course he has. His first film, ‘The Missing Gun,’ received excellent reviews. And his previous film, ‘Kekexili,’ won numerous awards. He has already proven his abilities,” Sister Wang couldn’t help but say.

"...[The Search for the Gun] I heard that the real director of this movie is Jiang Wen?" Li Boda couldn't help but laugh.

"..." Sister Wang didn't know what to say, and even laughed along with Li Boda. Almost everyone in the industry knew that although "Looking for a Gun" was said to be Lu Chuan's work, the actual director was Jiang Wen. You could tell from the style of the film. It was said that Lu Chuan even called his father in tears to complain about it. This matter made many people in the industry secretly laugh.

"And that film, 'Kekexili,' is a plagiarized movie. It plagiarized 'Me and the Tibetan Antelope - The Glacier Flows Here,' and they were sued, weren't they? And Lu Chuan even lost and had to pay compensation. A director like that actually made a 200 million dollar blockbuster." Li Boda couldn't help but complain.

Or perhaps Li Boda was a little jealous of this too; a two-hundred-million-dollar investment—if he had it, he could have used it to make a science fiction film.

"Who told Lu Chuan to have connections? But at least it's a 200 million investment, so there shouldn't be any problems with the movie 'Nanjing! Nanjing!'." Sister Wang couldn't help but feel a little jealous. A director who doesn't have any real works and even plagiarizes other people's movies can directly secure a 200 million investment for a big production.

"I don't really believe he can make any good movies, but does he have a script?" Li Boda asked anyway.

"Yes, the script was submitted a long time ago."

Li Boda took the script from Sister Wang, glanced at it a few times, and then threw it away: "He's still a traitor."

"Huh?" Sister Wang and Zhao Liying both looked at Li Boda in astonishment.

"A movie that whitewashes the Japanese. I wouldn't dare act in it; I'd be afraid people would gossip about me behind my back," Li Boda said disdainfully, curling his lip.

When Zhao Liying heard Li Boda say that, she, who had initially been a little envious, lost all interest in the script.

"Fine, if you don't like it, then don't act in it. Actually, quite a few production teams have sent us scripts, such as 'The Spy Who Loved Me,' which not only invited you but also Liying."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Liying's face lit up with joy.

“I’ll pass. Right now, I just want to make my own movie and direct it myself,” Li Boda said, shaking his head.

"Huh? You want to be a director?" Sister Wang was taken aback.

“Yes, I mentioned before that I’ve taught myself directing skills. I feel like I’ve learned enough, so I want to make my own movie,” Li Boda said, nodding.

"...Being a director isn't that simple, boss. But considering your abilities and skills, you might actually be able to make a good movie. So, what kind of movie are you planning to make? I'll be your producer." Sister Wang raised both hands in support of Li Boda.

"Um, boss, can I act in your movie?" Zhao Liying asked hurriedly from the side.

"I've been saying I want to make a movie, but I don't really know what kind of movie it will be." Li Boda was in a great mood, seeing that his two key members in the studio were so supportive of him.

"I just believe in your abilities, boss. As long as you want to do it, there's nothing you can't do successfully." Sister Wang was particularly superstitious about Li Boda.

“Yes, yes, yes! That’s what I think too,” Zhao Liying quickly agreed.

“Alright, let me think about what kind of movie to make. As for Liying, Sister Wang, you can help her pick some good scripts and roles. I'm making a movie, so it won't be quick.” Li Boda said with a smile.

"Good boss!"

After returning to Magic Cube Technology, Li Boda stayed at the company for a few days, handling some work-related matters. Then he began to think about what kind of movie he would direct. After all, this would be his first film, and there were quite a few things to consider.

Li Boda wanted to make a science fiction film, especially one where the male lead was a particularly brilliant scientist.

However, given Li Boda's current situation, making this kind of movie won't be so easy.

Moreover, science fiction films are something Hollywood excels at, and there are almost no excellent works in this genre in China.

So, Li Boda even considered whether he should go to Hollywood and buy a suitable script.

However, science fiction movies are usually based on novels, so perhaps we could buy the film adaptation rights to the novels.

However, after inquiring about the film adaptation rights of some popular science fiction novels from abroad, Li Boda temporarily abandoned the idea.

The main problem is that it's too expensive!

The film adaptation rights are worth several million dollars, and those several million dollars are in US dollars.

However, after thinking about science fiction novels, Li Boda turned his attention back to China.

Then Li Boda saw Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem".

Then Li Boda was shocked. He realized that Liu Cixin's science fiction was far superior to foreign science fiction novels, far, far superior.

However, adapting "The Three-Body Problem" is quite difficult!

What disappointed Li Boda somewhat was that the protagonist of "The Three-Body Problem" was not a particularly brilliant scientist.

There's also Liu Cixin's "Lightning Ball," which features a brilliant scientist, but unfortunately, he's not the main character, and the film adaptation wasn't very exciting.

After Li Boda focused his attention on Liu Cixin's science fiction novels, he began to have some thoughts about some domestic novels.

After all, Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem" is so amazing, who knows, there might be other writers in China who can write even better or more exciting novels.

Then, Li Boda happened to see "Infinite Terror".

To be honest, this novel was not initially on Li Boda's reading list.

After all, what Li Boda wanted to read was science fiction, novels with protagonists who were exceptionally intelligent and brilliant scientists.

However, by chance, when Li Boda saw some people discussing the characters in the novel on a forum, who was the smartest and who was the most powerful, the character Chu Xuan from "Infinite Terror" came into Li Boda's view.

When those people were discussing it, they not only described Chu Xuan as incredibly awesome, but also said that Chu Xuan was Doraemon.

This truly piqued Li Boda's curiosity.

So Li Boda found the novel "Infinite Terror".

However, when Li Boda opened the novel, his first reaction was to frown, because the first volume of the novel was "Resident Evil", the second volume was "Alien", and the third volume was "Ju-on".

These are all movies that have already been filmed by others.

How can Li Boda possibly use this to make a movie?
Even if they were actually filmed, how much would it cost to buy the copyrights for these movies?
Most importantly, if he really is going to film "Infinite Terror," for the "Resident Evil" volume, will he hire Hollywood actors? Hollywood actors' salaries are astronomical compared to those in mainland China now; not only are the salaries high, but they're also in US dollars.

Just because of this subject matter, Li Boda had already given up on the novel "Infinite Terror" in his mind.

However, Li Boda hasn't found any suitable novels yet, so he might as well take a look at this novel "Infinite Terror". After all, this theme is quite fresh. A giant sphere of light god throws humans into a movie and makes them struggle to survive.

To be honest, if we didn't have to consider copyright issues and cast problems, Li Boda would have really been willing to make it into a movie.

With this in mind, Li Boda picked up "Infinite Terror" and started reading it, but he didn't expect to become so engrossed in it.

It would be fine if it were just [Resident Evil], but when Chu Xuan appeared in [Alien], Li Boda's eyes really lit up.

When Chu Xuan from "Ju-on" tested Kayako's abilities and then performed various dazzling feats after being resurrected, Li Boda shouted in his heart, "Film it! We must film it! Chu Xuan is the role I want!"

He is intelligent and capable. He can figure out any high-tech product that comes his way. He can make anything he wants with his hands.

This ability is exactly Li Boda's ideal type!
As for the layout and such, Li Boda didn't care much about it.

After all, the real world isn't the world of "Infinite Terror," so there's no need for any planning or scheming.

He was drawn to Chu Xuan's hands-on skills; as long as he played Chu Xuan, he could immediately tinker with the simplest products, like cell phones.

(End of this chapter)