HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 421 [421] Shocking! Filming has barely started and a publisher has already spent 20 million US dollars to buy the copyright?
The reporters present, director Zhang Yingmou, actors Liang Jiahui, Zhang Manyu, Zhang Ziyi, Chen Daoming, and others were all thoroughly impressed by Qi Yuan's performance.

That's so damn pretentious.

One album with four crowns is to be expected. Is this even human language?
This is like a college student getting into Tsinghua University, and when others ask him how he feels, he retorts, "Isn't this what I should do?" That's just too annoying.

However, people quickly dismissed this inappropriate example.

Every year, many students are admitted to Tsinghua University and Peking University, but Qi Yuan is the only one in Asia to release an English album and achieve four number one hits in the United States.

In the entire American music scene, you can count the number of people like that on two hands.

Looking at it this way, it's not unreasonable for Qi Yuan to pretend no matter how much she tries.

If it were them, they could be a hundred times more cunning than Qi Yuan.

The reporter then asked about Qi Yuan's Chinese album and future English album.

"The Chinese album is in the final stages of production and will be released after I finish filming 'Hero'. As for the English album, I think it will be next year. However, I have already written a few songs for the English album, and I think it won't disappoint everyone."

Qi Yuan spoke eloquently, deliberately revealing some information about his second major in English. There was nothing wrong with saying it; it could even serve as a warm-up.

The reporters quickly jotted down the key points.

Qi Yuan is definitely one of the most prolific musicians in the Chinese music scene in recent years, releasing two albums a year, which is incredibly prolific.

Moreover, every album is of high quality. Since his debut, Qi Yuan has released so many albums, and not a single song has been used to fill out the album; they are all masterpieces.

Wang Lihong cannot do this, and neither can Zhou Jielun.

There is a barrier between genius and being a mediocre talent.

After answering several questions about music and albums, Qi Yuan stopped answering those kinds of questions and shared some thoughts and prospects for "Hero".

"I believe that Director Zhang's film can open the door to the era of domestic commercial blockbusters. Before this film, there was no domestic film with an investment scale of 30 million US dollars."

Qi Yuan said in a serious tone that his evaluation was very objective.

This film ushered in the era of domestic commercial blockbusters, a fact that is widely acknowledged.

Zhang Yingmou, who was standing to the side, was very pleased to hear this, feeling that Qi Yuan was being very kind.

When mentioning Qi Yuan, he praised him, saying, "Qi Yuan is an outstanding and fantastic superstar. I feel very honored to have him with me."

Our production team is too poor to offer him a high salary, so we can only give him four million US dollars. It's really unfair to him.

"..."

The actors, including Liang Jiahui, Zhang Manyu, Zhang Ziyi, and Chen Daoming, along with the reporters, fell silent once again.

Depend on!
Is it really appropriate to put four million dollars and grievances together?

That's equivalent to over 30 million RMB, which is already the ceiling for domestic actors.

Aside from actors like Jackie Chan and Li Lianjie who have worked in Hollywood, no domestic actor can surpass Qi Yuan in terms of salary.

Zhang Ziyi is far inferior; her salary in Hollywood has only increased to a million dollars.

She didn't receive that amount when filming "Hero"; she received RMB, approximately 1.6 million.

She was made famous by Zhang Yingmou, and he also recommended her for the role in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." She owes Zhang Yingmou a favor.

Apart from Qi Yuan, Zhang Manyu, the highest-ranking member of the cast, received a salary of one million US dollars.

There will be even fewer people like Chen Daoming. It's not an exaggeration at all; all of their combined salaries don't even compare to Qi Yuan's alone.

Zhang Yingmou knew that his words were a bit too shocking for ordinary people, so he patted Qi Yuan and continued.

"I'm not kidding. Qi Yuan really felt wronged to accept four million. He only came to help Chinese films go overseas."

If his only goal was to make money, he could easily earn far more than his film and television salary by holding a few concerts.

After hearing this, everyone was convinced.

These words make perfect sense! Unless he goes to make Hollywood blockbusters like Jackie Chan and gets a percentage of the box office revenue, making films in China would be a disservice to Qi Yuan.

Of course, sometimes the accounts aren't calculated that way.

The film "Hero" is of great significance. It is China's first truly commercial blockbuster and will be recorded in great detail in the future history of Chinese cinema.

If Qi Yuan and this film complement each other, and the film achieves even greater success thanks to his overseas fame, he himself will gain widespread recognition in Hollywood, proving that he can also carry the box office in Hollywood.

In the future, he will enter Hollywood like Jackie Chan and Li Lianjie, and achieve even greater success than those two.

This film will have an even greater significance for Chinese cinema, a significance that money cannot measure.

……

As China's first big-budget commercial blockbuster, "Hero" has naturally garnered widespread attention across the country since filming began.

The news of the start of filming is being reported by major and minor media outlets across the country, including official media.

[The new film "Hero" by top mainland director Zhang Yingmou began filming in Dunhuang on August 11. What surprises will the combination of Zhang Yingmou and Qi Yuan bring us? Let's wait and see!]

[Qi Yuan responded to the claim of one album achieving four chart-topping successes: "These are all expected. My goal in the American music scene is to become a top-tier superstar!"]

Zhang Yingmou stated that he could only offer Qi Yuan a salary of four million US dollars, which was truly unfair to him.

……

These news items have brought immense popularity to both "Heroes" and Qi Yuan personally.

Mr. Zhang, the boss of Souhu, was grinning from ear to ear. Souhu had exclusive reporting rights to some of Qi Yuan's news, which made them earn a lot of traffic, and the number of new users was also increasing rapidly.

Some media outlets and ordinary people also believe that Zhang Yingmou was flattering Qi Yuan. The four million dollar salary may be a bit low for Qi Yuan, but it's not enough to warrant the word "wronged".

Until a piece of news arrived, all of them were speechless.

Miramax Films in the United States contacted Zhang Weiping and Jiang Zhiqiang of New Pictures, offering a buyout price of 20 million US dollars to acquire the rights to "Hero" in North America and several European countries.

Twenty million US dollars!!!
Countless people, both inside and outside the industry, were astonished.

Zhang Yingmou, sitting behind the camera, also displayed his classic shocked expression.
The total investment for this film was only 30 million US dollars, but it grossed 20 million US dollars right after filming started, allowing investors to recoup most of their investment.

As long as the film's quality isn't terrible, it can easily make a fortune by simply selling tickets domestically and in East Asia after its release.

"I didn't believe before that four million dollars would be a waste for Qi Yuan, but now I do. Director Zhang really wasn't exaggerating! Foreign distributors bought the rights right after filming started, that's truly amazing!"

"Is Qi Yuan really that popular in the United States? I know that her one album has won four awards and that she has sold a huge number of copies worldwide. I know these numbers are impressive, but I didn't know they were this popular."

"Besides Jackie Chan, Qi Yuan should be the most influential Chinese celebrity in the world right now, right?"

"Remove 'should'; Li Lianjie is far inferior to Qi Yuan."

(End of this chapter)