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

Chapter 223 National Level

Sitting in the movie theater, watching Li Boda in "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate," I couldn't help but frown.

Well, to be honest, the movie "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" disappointed Li Boda a bit, but at the same time, he felt it was quite normal.

Despite having directed many excellent films, and even many films with very exciting storylines, Xu Ke has made many films.

However, Tsui Hark has a flaw: once his films start using too many special effects, the storyline of the film becomes weak.

The same applies to "The New Legend of Shushan Swordsman," "The Legend of Shushan," and now "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate."

Speaking of which, the special effects of "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" are second to none among all the domestic films made in China.

While it can't compare to Avatar or Li Boda's unreleased Infinite Terror, it is indeed one of the more outstanding films in terms of special effects in China. So, Tsui Hark has fallen into his old habit again, making the story plot a bit weak and the overall plot a bit anticlimactic.

To be honest, in the movie "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate", in Li Boda's opinion, the character Yu Huatian of the West Depot is undoubtedly the most successfully portrayed.

From the very first appearance, its prestige was off the charts.

"You ask me what the Western Depot is? Let me tell you now, what the Eastern Depot dares not handle, the Western Depot handles! What the Eastern Depot dares not kill, the Western Depot kills! In short, what the Eastern Depot can handle, we handle; what the Eastern Depot cannot handle, we handle even more. Execute first, report later, with imperial permission! This is the Western Depot, is that clear enough?"

With just this one line, the character of Yu Huatian was perfectly portrayed.

Unfortunately, Xu Ke did not delve deeper into the character of Yu Huatian. Or rather, Xu Ke merely portrayed Yu Huatian as an ambitious eunuch without elevating the character further.

Moreover, the character Yu Huatian was built up to be so high-class in the beginning, but he completely fell apart later on.

Another tactic is to strike an enemy, shatter their sword, and use the shards to attack them.

Li Boda didn't think this move was particularly sophisticated; on the contrary, it felt like a rehash of old material. In the original "New Dragon Gate Inn," the villain Cao Shaoqin used the same method, and now Yu Huatian was using it again.

Of course, Li Boda wasn't too optimistic about "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate," but he didn't really show it.

When the movie ended, Xu Ke asked Li Boda for his opinion on the film. Li Boda simply gave a thumbs up and praised Xu Ke and the movie "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate".

After all, there was no conflict between him and Xu Ke, and Xu Ke's attitude towards him was quite kind. Li Boda wasn't out of his mind, so he wouldn't deliberately say hurtful things to target Xu Ke.

After attending the premiere of "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate," Li Boda no longer wanted to pay attention to the movie.

In any case, this movie is just so-so to him, and it won't pose any threat to himself or his movie "Infinite Terror".

The day after Li Boda participated in "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate", Zhao Liying invited him with a smile to watch her newly filmed TV series "Empresses in the Palace".

Zhao Liying chose to film the TV series "Empresses in the Palace," in which she played the female lead, Zhen Huan.

Now that the TV series is airing, she naturally wants to watch it as soon as possible.

In addition, Li Boda has been in seclusion creating special effects for "Infinite Terror" for so long, and Zhao Liying hasn't had much of a relationship with him, so she can't help but miss him a little.

This is a good opportunity to have a proper negative encounter.

Li Boda naturally agreed to Zhao Liying's suggestion to watch the TV series she starred in together.

Li Boda was a little curious, though. He felt that Zhao Liying should be able to access film resources by now, so why was she going back to making TV dramas?

Li Boda didn't hide anything and asked directly.

"I also want to make movies. It's just a pity that I haven't come across any good scripts. Zhang Yi did approach me to star in 'The Flowers of War,' but Sister Wang said that the plot of 'The Flowers of War' is a bit similar to 'Nanjing! Nanjing!', and I might not like it, so I turned it down. I just happened to think that the TV series 'Empresses in the Palace' was good, so I took that role." Zhao Liying said with a grin, even bringing up the story of "The Flowers of War."

Of course, Zhao Liying's statement was partly motivated by a desire to gain Li Boda's approval. She even rejected a film by the renowned director Zhang Yimou because she cared so much about Li Boda's opinion.

Li Boda could naturally understand Zhao Liying's little scheme, so he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his embrace, saying, "Then I'll reward you properly today."

……

Li Boda watched two episodes of "Empresses in the Palace" with Zhao Liying, even though Li Boda wasn't interested in this kind of drama.

However, he also had to admit that the TV series "Empresses in the Palace" was truly amazing!
Even Li Boda felt that Zhao Liying's decision to give up "The Flowers of War" to star in the TV series "Empresses in the Palace" was a very wise choice.

Because the TV series "Empresses in the Palace" has the potential to become a phenomenon—no, a national phenomenon. Speaking of nationally popular TV series, there really aren't many domestic dramas that can be considered nationally popular since the advent of television.

"Journey to the West" counts as one, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" barely counts as one, "Princess Pearl" counts as one, and at most, "Bright Sword" can be added. After that, there are almost none.

The TV series "Journey to the West" has been replayed on various TV stations for many years, especially during holidays.

Although the TV series "My Fair Princess" has not been rebroadcast since, the main actors in it have been reaping the benefits of the show's popularity for two or three decades and are still doing so.

So, this is a national-level TV series. Besides these few, what other TV series can achieve this level?

Despite starring in so many wildly popular dramas, none of Li Boda's dramas have become national hits.

The drama "Empresses in the Palace" starring Zhao Liying now has that potential.

So even Li Boda was a little envious of Zhao Liying's good luck.

Because she wasn't optimistic about the subject matter of the film "The Flowers of War," Zhao Liying gave up the opportunity to work with Zhang Yimou and instead starred in "Empresses in the Palace," which became a nationally popular TV series. Wow!

And indeed, it was just as Li Boda had predicted.

After the broadcast of "Empresses in the Palace", the ratings began to skyrocket.

Then various topics related to "Empresses in the Palace" began to emerge one after another.

What's this "Zhen Huan style"? What's this "If it were me, I wouldn't survive three episodes in The Legend of Zhen Huan"?

The level of popularity is truly indescribable.

Even when Tsui Hark's film "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" was first released and was at the height of its popularity, it couldn't suppress the popularity of "Empresses in the Palace".

It's worth noting that "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" was marketed as a sequel to "New Dragon Gate Inn," and promoted as China's first 3D special effects blockbuster, with Jet Li starring. Despite all this hype, it still couldn't suppress the popularity of "Empresses in the Palace."

The first run of "Empresses in the Palace" was only halfway through when many TV stations were already vying for the rights to broadcast it a second time.

Zhao Liying frequently receives calls from the "Empresses in the Palace" production team, and she keeps receiving good news, making her extremely happy.

It wasn't just Zhao Liying, but also Sister Wang and Xiao Yuan.

Especially Sister Wang—

"I told you so! I told you so! Listen to our boss, you can't go wrong. From the very first time I met him, I knew he was destined for greatness; it would be an injustice if he didn't become famous. Since then, whenever a script is handed to me, I let him choose, and every time he picks the best and most outstanding script. This time was no exception. Because our boss didn't like 'The Flowers of War,' which is very similar to 'Nanjing! Nanjing!', Liying, you gave up 'The Flowers of War' and chose 'Empresses in the Palace,' which is why you've landed a role in such a wildly popular, even nationally popular, TV series..."

Sister Wang's voice was particularly passionate and excited, filled with blind worship for Li Boda.

At this moment, even if Li Boda said that poop smells good, she would absolutely believe that poop smells good.

Sister Wang's blind worship has almost reached the point of being beyond redemption.

Under Sister Wang's promotion, Xiao Yuan, Xiao Fang, Xiao Bian, and even Zhao Liying and others were almost completely fooled.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, a month has almost passed.

The release date of "Infinite Terror" is fast approaching.

Of course, when "Infinite Terror" was released, "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" had also been in theaters for a month, just as it was time for it to be taken off the screens.

During this month, "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" attracted a lot of viewers thanks to its director Tsui Hark, the participation of Jet Li, and its status as a sequel to "New Dragon Gate Inn".

In particular, its title as the first domestic 3D special effects blockbuster attracted many viewers.

So, "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" grossed 500 million yuan at the box office after a month in theaters.

The total investment for "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" was 200 million. Logically, it should have grossed 600 million to break even or make a small profit.

However, to be fair, Jet Li's movies generally perform very well in Southeast Asia and other regions. So even though "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" didn't break even based solely on domestic box office revenue, with the addition of box office revenue from Southeast Asia and other overseas countries, "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" not only didn't lose money, but actually made at least 100 million yuan.

(End of this chapter)