HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 172 [172] The premiere of "Gunfire" had a lineup that rivaled big-budget productions.
In the days following the EP's release, Qi Yuan appeared in several cities in Taiwan for autograph sessions and fan meetings.

Although I was exhausted, the results were very gratifying.

By the third day, the "Next Year Today" EP had sold 270 million copies, leaving all the top stars in the Chinese music scene far behind.

It was only at this moment that people realized there were differences between the Heavenly Kings; there was a Heavenly King called Qi Yuan, and there was another Heavenly King called the others.

5 month 18 day.

Qi Yuan arrived in Hong Kong and held autograph sessions in multiple areas including Central and Causeway Bay.

Milkyway Image is also actively promoting "The Mission".

When Qi Yuan was active in Hong Kong, he would occasionally mention "The Mission," in which he starred, to promote his film debut.

The benefits of Du Qifeng's request for a prayer became apparent at this time.

Qi Yuan has a large number of fans in Hong Kong, and many people bought movie tickets specifically to see him.

Several days before the movie's release, many fans had already purchased tickets and were eagerly awaiting its premiere.

Du Qifeng beamed with joy upon receiving the data, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

The White Dragon King was right; Qi Yuan was indeed auspicious for him.

Qi Yuan's die-hard fans have already created a great start for the film. If it receives good reviews after its release, it will definitely attract more Hong Kong people to the cinema.

"Yuanzai, you're amazing. I feel like your fans have more spending power than most celebrities' fans."

Du Qifeng called and expressed his feelings.

Many popular celebrities seem to have a lot of fans, but most of them are useless.

Later, young male idols had tens of millions of followers on Weibo. A single Weibo post could garner hundreds of thousands of comments and tens of thousands of reposts. If even one-tenth of their fans went to the cinema to support their idols, they wouldn't have flopped so badly.

Nicholas Tse is known as the first generation of traffic superstars, largely because he couldn't carry the box office.

Yinghuang packaged Nicholas Tse so well that a large number of young people across the country imitated his hairstyle, but very few of them supported his movies.

When Nicholas Tse was at the height of his popularity, it was very expensive to hire him to film TV series, but much cheaper to hire him to film movies.

Last year's sequel to the Young and Dangerous series only grossed HK$240 million, and the recently released "Half a Cigarette" has only grossed a little over HK$400 million so far.

Du Qifeng was genuinely surprised that Qi Yuan's first film had attracted so many fans to buy tickets, making him comparable to movie stars who had starred in many films.

"Director Du, maybe everyone came here because of you."

Qi Yuan remained calm and composed; it was definitely his "rich woman killer" trait coming into play again.

With the "rich woman killer" on board, as long as his works aren't too bad, his performance won't be too bad.

"Come on, stop flattering me. I know my own limitations."

In recent years, Du Qifeng has produced a lot of movies, with many films grossing over one million, two million, or three million. The most outrageous one was "Terrifying Chicken" in 97, which only grossed 48.

If Du Qifeng's name were really that effective, these well-received movies wouldn't have flopped like this.

He doesn't have that much influence. His highest-grossing film is "Justice, My Foot!", which most viewers went to see because of Stephen Chow.

The movie will be officially released on the 21st. On the 20th, Du Qifeng plans to hold a small premiere to boost the film's popularity.

“Yuanzai, I heard that you and Director Chen and his wife have a very good relationship. They are on vacation in Hong Kong. Could you invite them over? If they could give us their feedback on our film ‘The Mission,’ it would be a great benefit to our movie.”

Du Qifeng added.

This was his real plan; Chen Kaige, as the top director in mainland China, still held considerable influence. If Chen Kaige praised a film, Du Qifeng could use Chen Kaige's evaluation to promote it widely.

"Uh... this might be difficult, but since you've already said so, I'll give it a try."

Qi Yuan spoke in a troubled tone.

Actually, Chen Hong had said he would come to support the event, and he deliberately said that to Du Qifeng so that he could gain a favor from Du Qifeng.

Du Qifeng never imagined that Qi Yuan, this young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, would be so cunning.

He thought for a moment and said, "The male-centric scenes in the movie 'The Mission' are too good. You brought in that actress named Bingbing, so I couldn't add any more scenes for her. Consider it a role I owe you. Next time I make a movie, I'll give you a female role in return."

Qi Yuan's lips curled into a smile. He hadn't done anything and had just gotten a role for free. Not bad! Not bad!
After "The Mission" and "Running Out of Time," Du Qifeng became quite capable, and later starred in many films that were both commercially and critically successful.

However, none of them can surpass "The Mission" and "Infernal Affairs".

In particular, "The Mission" is the pinnacle of Du Qifeng's directorial career, and the film that has won the most awards, bar none.

While Qi Yuan was busy with photo shoots and autograph sessions in Hong Kong, Li Bingbing came to Hong Kong.

She only played a sister-in-law in the movie, appearing for three or four minutes; she could have chosen not to come.

She probably felt that "The Mission" was her first Hong Kong film and therefore had commemorative significance, so she came to the premiere.

……

5 month 20 number.

The premiere of "The Mission" has officially begun.

Hong Kong actors who have good relationships with Du Qifeng, such as Andy Lau, Lau Ching-wan, Lee Chi-hung, and Ng Chun-yu, all came to support him.

Qi Yuan shook hands with Wu Zhenyu and greeted him. Wu Zhenyu played the role of A Lai in the previous life.

In this life, with Qi Yuan in the picture, Du Qifeng was single-mindedly focused on inviting Qi Yuan, without considering Wu Zhenyu at all. Wu Zhenyu could only painfully lose the role that would have earned him the Golden Horse Award for Best Actor.

Chen Kaige and Chen Hong arrived on time; they were the most prominent couple present.

Some Hong Kong reporters were quite surprised to see Chen Kaige appear.

"Director Chen, why are you here? Who are you here for?"

Chen Kaige smiled and said, "Ah Yuan and I are very good friends. I happened to be on vacation in Hong Kong when his first movie premiered, so I came to see what was going on."

The reporters and paparazzi were stunned. Did Qi Yuan have such great influence that he could make a famous director like Chen Kaige come all the way for him?

When a reporter pressed Chen Kaige about the relationship between him and Qi Yuan, Chen Kaige was moved and recited a poem on the spot: "Friendship knows no age, and there is no need to be of the same mind to make friends. There is no need for everyone to ask so many questions. It is enough that you know that A Yuan and I are good friends with similar interests."

Wang Jing, Anita Mui, Zhang Guorong, Princess Wang, Chen Huilin, Zheng Zhongji, Guo Fucheng, Zheng Xiuwen, and other acquaintances Qi Yuan met in Hong Kong also came to show their support.

“Yuanzai is a very good friend of mine, and I definitely have to come and support his debut film!” Chen Huilin told reporters.

"My brother and I really like Qi Yuan's music. This is his first time acting, and we both wish him great success at the box office," said Mei Yanfang.

……

Despite being a low-budget film, quite a few celebrities and stars came to support it.

The fans, reporters, and paparazzi present were amazed by the impressive lineup, saying that everyone would believe it was the premiere of a blockbuster film with an investment of tens of millions.

Amidst everyone's anticipation, the movie slowly began.

(End of this chapter)