Huayu: The Big Players Behind the Scenes

After The Banquet

The 2006 National Day film season has officially begun.

Despite the film's less-than-stellar premiere reception, the golden duo of Feng Xiaogang and Ge You still attracted many viewers to buy tickets.

Wang Zhongjun announced to the media that the premiere box office had exceeded 12 million yuan, and the box office in the first four days was close to 60 million yuan.

The word "approaching" is well-chosen; it encapsulates the range from 5001 million to 5999 million.

The film's popularity across both the North and South breaks the previous pattern of Feng Xiaogang's films being stronger in the North than in the South.

The audience's reaction was somewhat polarized. Some praised Feng Xiaogang for his excellent visual aesthetics, as expected of someone with an art background, while others complained that the script and Ge You's performance were too distracting and unsuitable for period dramas.

These huge controversies, on the contrary, prompted more audiences to come in, mainly to try the different flavors.

However, according to interviews with media at the scene, most of the audience members used even harsher language after they came out.

The media, in a sly way, jokingly said that 7% of the box office revenue for "The Banquet" came from the money earned from the criticism, while the remaining 3% was the true value of Feng Xiaogang's work.

But Huayi doesn't care. Back during the Venice Film Festival, the overseas rights to "The Banquet" had already been sold, and the production costs had been recovered. Every penny they're making now is pure profit.

This is also the biggest reason why major film and television companies are now keen to participate in overseas film festivals.

Thirteen days later, Feng Xiaogang gradually lost his strength, and Jackie Chan seized the opportunity to release the family-friendly film "Rob-B-Hood" in mainland China.

A star-studded premiere was also held, but Zhuang Huai'an did not attend this time.

just because,

After two and a half years of training, The Martian is finally about to make his debut!

"Holy crap, Huai'an! Is this guest list real or fake?"

In the China Film Group office building, Han Sanping stared at the documents in his hand, his face filled with disbelief.

"Of course it's true," Zhuang Huai'an glanced at him irritably, too lazy to point out his grammatical errors.

"Actually, I invited more than 20 A-list Hollywood stars, but only the ones mentioned above are confirmed to attend."

"That's impressive," Han Sanping said, lighting a cigarette to calm himself, his gaze still fixed on the documents. "Hiring so many big-name actors must have cost a fortune, right?"

"On the contrary, I didn't pay a single penny; they didn't even mention the cost of the plane ticket."

Zhuang Huai'an straightened his sleeves with an arrogant expression. "Brother, do you even know what it means to be a four-time Golden Horse Award-winning director or a MGM board member?"

Han Sanping was taken aback by this, then shook his head and chuckled, "Being with you was so relaxing that I forgot about your achievements in the US. Speaking of which, have you been reading The Hollywood Reporter lately?"

"No, did this magazine say anything bad about me?"

"No, they're really praising you to the skies." Han Sanping got up, walked to the bookshelf, found a magazine, and handed it over. "Here, take a look for yourself."

Zhuang Huai'an took it and saw that the cover featured a photo of him winning three gold medals in Berlin, with a line of large print next to it:

An, who has secured his position on the board of MGM, topped the list of Hollywood's 50 most powerful people of the year, boasting the prestige of a grand slam!

"That's an exaggeration."

Zhuang Huai'an curled his lip, unconcerned, and threw the magazine on the table. He knew what it said without even opening it.

"There are countless behind-the-scenes capitalists in Hollywood. This lousy magazine is praising me so much, they might just be trying to make me a target. Just take this with a grain of salt, there's no need to pay too much attention to it."

"You can think that way, but others can't do it."

Han Sanping refilled his tea and got back to the main topic, "If there are so many foreigners coming, then holding the premiere at the Great Hall of the People would not be appropriate, especially since it coincides with National Day, and the ministries will not approve it."

Where do you think we should go? I'll have someone coordinate something.

"This definitely needs some thought," Zhuang Huai'an pondered for a moment without any clue. "Brother, can you give me some advice?"

"How about the Beijing Hotel? We can have dinner after watching the movie, no problem."

Han Sanping laughed and said, "Isn't it said that foreigners all like to eat Chinese food? This time, let them try the authentic one."

"Come on, what they like is modified Chinese food, which is sickeningly greasy."

Zhuang Huai'an rejected the suggestion, "Besides, their constitution is not like that of Chinese babies. There are so many types of allergens that you've never even heard of them. Just in case, let's have a buffet instead."

"Allergies aren't really a big deal, are they?" Han Sanping asked, somewhat puzzled. "It's just sneezing and a runny nose, maybe a rash at most, what else could it be?"

"What you're describing is the constitution of Chinese people; allergies can really kill foreigners."

Zhuang Huai'an waved his hand and explained, "Chinese people mainly eat food that is non-toxic raw, slightly toxic cooked, and highly toxic soaked in alcohol. Coupled with the pressure and education from our parents, we have eaten all kinds of food since childhood, and our immune system has received comprehensive practical training from a young age."

Take peanuts as an example. They are the biggest allergen for foreigners. We have been eating them since the Ming Dynasty. At that time, almost everyone was allergic to them. But our ancestors never suspected that peanuts were the problem. They just thought that the person was unlucky and died for no reason.

Another example is when mangoes were first introduced to China. Our ancestors didn't believe in such superstitions and ate as many mangoes as they could, eventually reaching a point where they had low allergies or even no symptoms at all.

There are many other examples in life. For instance, people who are allergic to alcohol simply say that their face turns red, and people who are allergic to chili peppers experience runny noses and diarrhea, which are all attributed to poor digestion.

When it comes to food, Chinese people tend to doubt themselves, but never doubt that the problem lies with the food itself. For example…

"Dada dada dada,"

Seeing that he was about to launch into a long-winded discourse, Han Sanping quickly interrupted him, saying, "Just summarize it in one sentence: We cherish every bite we get because we've been hungry before."

"This child is teachable," Zhuang Huai'an smacked his lips, still feeling a bit unsatisfied, and added a final touch of brilliance, "Our ancestors were truly great."

"Indeed," Han Sanping nodded in agreement. "Stop with the fluff, let's get down to business. How exactly do we do it?"

"I don't know, it's fine no matter what."

Zhuang Huai'an stood up and stretched. "I came here to deliver the guest list to you. I've left everything else to Wang Changtian. With his abilities, there's no need to worry."

Back to Company 91

Liu Yifei was occupying his desk, chuckling to herself in front of the computer.

"Brother, you're back just in time! I'm calling you GG now."

Zhuang Huai'an walked over and saw that the screen displayed the page of Liu Yifei's fan forum, "Yifei Xianju".

"This team's cohesion is really strong."

Looking at the screen full of supportive messages, he couldn't help but sigh, "Sisi, honestly, you're really lucky to have such a large fan base."

"Hehehe, I think so too."

Liu Yifei raised her small face, full of pride, "Ever since the black website incident last month, the administrators specifically set up registration questions. Although this reduced the number of people, it actually purified the fan base. No one posts unflattering pictures of me in the comments section anymore~"

All the photos that remain are beautiful~~~

The "black website incident" that Liu Yifei mentioned happened last month, on her 19th birthday.

The young couple, who were still in their hometown of Qiancheng, received a call from Du Hua, who said that a hacker had invaded the Xianju Forum, and the homepage was filled with a lot of raw pictures and doggerel.

Ultimately, Attorney Yu Jun stepped in and helped the hacker get a pair of silver bracelets. He also found her a job with room and board included, although the employment contract was short, only three months.

Zhuang Huai'an was somewhat dissatisfied with this. He had been so kind, yet the other party hadn't even said thank you before going to work. It was incredibly rude!

In fact, the administrator Liu Yifei mentioned was a secondary account that Zhuang Huai'an instructed Du Hua to create. It wouldn't deliberately interfere normally, but only play a supervisory role, since the power of "fan culture" is simply too great.

His idea was simple: all organizations must be under the leadership of the Communist Party and cannot act recklessly!