HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 451 [451] Reviving "The Demonic Cult Leader" to fulfill the audience's dream of two or three decades?
After entertaining the guests for the evening, Wang Jing found Qi Yuan hiding in a corner and complained, "You're having a good time hiding here. I can't even remember how many polite words I said tonight. My voice is almost hoarse."

He became the second director to enter the 100 million yuan box office club in mainland China.

Wang Jing's works have shown everyone that this veteran Hong Kong director is capable of making blockbuster commercial films.

Tonight, countless celebrities and big-name investors are trying to curry favor with him, and dealing with them will require a lot of effort.

"I just didn't want to steal your thunder!"

Qi Yuan raised his glass and clinked it with Wang Jing's.

This is the celebration party for "My Sassy Girl," and Wang Jingcai is the main character.

After chatting for a while, Wang Jing sincerely thanked him, saying, "Ah Yuan, collaborating with you is the best decision I've made in recent years, without a doubt. I never thought I could make such a successful film."

In his previous life, his first movie to gross over 100 million yuan was "The Spy Who Loved Me" in 2009. After its release, it received a lot of bad reviews and was criticized by authoritative newspapers in Beijing as being surprisingly old-fashioned, and its reputation was completely ruined.

For Wang Jing, breaking 100 million yuan at the box office is an unattainable dream.

Feng Xiaogang, a director hailed as the best at making commercial films in mainland China, has yet to have a highest-grossing film that doesn't even reach half of 100 million yuan.

Before 05, achieving this would have been extremely difficult.

Wang Jing thinks the most impressive thing is that "My Sassy Girl" has received very good reviews overall, with about 20% of the reviews being critical and 80% being positive. It is one of the best-received films in his career.

Therefore, Wang Jing was genuinely grateful to Qi Yuan.

With the success of "Hua Wuque" and "My Sassy Girl", Wang Jing would definitely want to continue collaborating with Qi Yuan's Starry Sky.

"If you ever have a good project in the future and need a director, just contact me anytime. I will definitely turn down all my work to help."

Qi Yuan had been looking for an opportunity to talk to Wang Jing, but Wang Jing took the initiative to bring it up, saving him a lot of trouble.

He got straight to the point: "I actually have some ideas, how about filming 'The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber'?"

Wang Jing's eyes widened in disbelief.

If he weren't familiar with Qi Yuan, he would have suspected that Qi Yuan was plotting against him.

"The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" is a pain that will never leave his heart.

In 93, Wang Jing, who had reached the peak of his career, was able to make money with almost every film he made, and began to be sought after by film companies in Hong Kong.

Wang Jing was ambitious. In that year, he confidently invested HK$50 million to make a film called "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Cult Leader".

This is Wang Jing's most dedicated work of the entire 90s, without exception.

Later, some people online said that Wang Jing only spent 20 days filming this movie, and some even said that it was finished in 7 days. This is nonsense.

In fact, filming for this movie took place from August to December 1993. At its peak, the crew and extras numbered over a thousand people, making it one of the largest-scale martial arts films produced in Hong Kong in the 1990s.

This highly anticipated film resulted in a crushing defeat for Wang Jing, earning him only 1100 million yuan at the box office and leaving him with nothing.

The box office failure of "The Cult Master" led to the cancellation of its sequel.

Zhao Min, riding a white horse and turning her head with a breathtaking glance; Zhou Zhiruo, with her veil removed and her lips and teeth white; Xiao Zhao, quick-witted, affectionate, and mischievous; and that line, "Come to Dadu to find me," have become the source of countless viewers' regrets, and also Qi Yuan's personal regrets. Objectively speaking, the quality of this film is quite good; otherwise, so many viewers wouldn't feel so sorry for it!

It can only be said that this film was released in the wrong era. Hong Kong cinema was very competitive that year; just look at what films were released that year to see that.

"Flirting Scholar", "All's Well, Ends Well", "City Hunter", "Fong Sai-yuk", "Once Upon a Time in China II", "Fight Back to School III", "The Eagle Shooting Heroes" and a whole host of other great movies, and these are not all of them.

It's not bad that Wang Jing and his film "The Cult Leader" can get 1100 million yuan at the box office; there's really nothing shameful about it.

Wang Jing's brain went blank for several seconds before he reacted: "Damn! Are you serious? 'The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber'? I flopped badly back then."

Qi Yuan was not surprised by Wang Jing's reaction. He said loudly, "Brother Jing, you just didn't catch the right time back then. The highest-grossing film in Hong Kong that year, 'Flirting Scholar,' only grossed 40 million. It's normal for your film, which cost 50 million, to lose money."

If this film had been postponed for ten years and released in 04, would it have lost money? Most likely it wouldn't.

The decline of martial arts films is an indisputable fact.

However, there is still an audience for martial arts films, and occasionally a martial arts film with good box office performance will emerge in the domestic film market, such as "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" and "Brotherhood of Blades".

These successful works prove that as long as the quality of martial arts films is good, audiences will still vote with their feet.

Wang Jing pondered for a moment and felt that Qi Yuan's words made sense.

If his film "The Cult Master" were released today, it would break even with box office returns similar to "My Sassy Girl," and could easily generate profits by selling the rights in Southeast Asia and other regions.

He doesn't think his novel "The Demon Cult Leader" is bad at all.

After a moment, he frowned: "It still won't work. Those actors from back then have all aged. Some are not as good-looking as they used to be, and some have retired from the industry to marry into wealthy families."

Did you really think he didn't want to restart the project later? He couldn't find all the actors, especially Li Lianjie, whom he simply couldn't afford.

After nearly thirty years, they finally produced two cash-grab adaptations of "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber," which were utterly terrible.

"If the scope is too small and the original cast can't be reunited, why don't we cultivate a new batch ourselves? I'm not thinking about making a movie version right away."

You can buy the copyright from Jin Yong, and we can invest in producing a good TV series, creating new Zhou Zhiruo, new Zhao Min, and new Xiao Zhao that are recognized by audiences nationwide.

With the groundwork laid by the TV series, the film market will be more mature by then, and the chances of a successful film adaptation are quite high.

Qi Yuan truly believes this.

The TV version of "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" is indeed a classic like the 94 version, but it is far from reaching the god-like level of Louis Koo's version of "The Return of the Condor Heroes".

If Wang Jing's TV version of "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" is well-made, it will definitely be a success.

Last year, Hong Kong produced the 01 version of "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber," starring Ng Kai-wah and Lai Chi, which received excellent reviews and ratings.

The 03 version of "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" was more successful in launching the careers of actors, with Gao Yuanyuan and Jia Jingwen gaining fame through this drama.

First, film a TV version, making Gao Yuanyuan's Zhou Zhiruo and Jia Jingwen's Zhao Min classics. Then, film a movie version a few years later. Audiences will definitely accept it. With Wang Jing's nostalgia factor, it's a really promising project.

Wang Jing was a smart man. After thinking for a while, his eyes began to light up.

This... seems to be a viable approach. How come he never thought of such a good idea before?
(End of this chapter)