Chapter 491: Consumed Reputation and Feelings

According to Chinese tradition, the new year begins only after New Year's Eve.

The Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Rooster has ended, and the reviews online are really not high.

To be honest, there are quite a few language programs in this year's Spring Festival Gala, and the number of crosstalk and sketches is almost the highest in recent years.

This is also what the audience wants to see. Although the songs are nice and the dances are beautiful, everyone still hopes to laugh more when watching the gala on New Year's Eve.

But unfortunately, while the quantity has increased, the quality has not kept up.

[Big City, Small Love], [Old Partner], [True Love Forever], [Tianshan Love], etc. As can be seen from the names, the themes of these sketches are positive enough, but the core of comedy "satire" is not visible, and the jokes are not loud, so the audiences feel bored.

Fortunately, there were still some highlights in the singing and dancing, which helped the Spring Festival Gala regain some of its reputation and not be completely without merit.

Zhang Jie and Mao Amin sang the song "Fireworks All Over the City", Lu Han and Chen Weiting sang the old song "Love You for Ten Thousand Years", and Zhang Yixing and Jing Boyan's song and dance "Get Healthy and Move" all attracted the attention of some audiences.

Brother Cheng Long and representatives of minority college students from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong and Macau sang a song called "Country". The melody was not only catchy but also fashionable and stylish. Many audiences were very satisfied with Cheng Long's performance this year.

Of course, the most surprising performance for the national audience at this year's Spring Festival Gala was Gu Wei's "Young China".

Gu Wei, who has been on the Spring Festival Gala stage for the third year, is actually under a lot of pressure because the performances of his previous two years, "Red Ling" and "Dragon Scales of Heaven and Earth", were so successful that audiences across the country are also looking forward to his performance in this year's Spring Festival Gala.

If he were to sing some old songs, such as Gu Wei's earliest songs "Proud Boy" and "Lone Brave Man", although they were also very nice to listen to, they lacked novelty and the audience would be disappointed and there would be no surprises.

When the program list for this year's Spring Festival Gala was announced and everyone found out that Gu Wei's program was a solo song "Young China", everyone knew that this was another new song written by Gu Wei himself, and the audience's expectations for this new work were also raised to the highest level.

Fortunately, Gu Wei still did not disappoint everyone.

Mr. Liang Qichao's lyrics and Gu Wei's music are passionate, magnificent and majestic.

[Young China Says] continues the Chinese style of [Chi Ling] and [Dragon Scales of Heaven and Earth]. Although the styles are different, the core of the song has not changed.

It is also a red song with positive energy and a main theme, but the style is more pop music-like.

Catchy and full of emotion, it is definitely a rare high-quality song in the Chinese music scene in recent years.

After the Spring Festival Gala ended, "Young China Says" became popular on the Internet, and software such as QQ Music, Kugou Music, and NetEase Music launched free versions immediately.

Gu Wei is not a professional singer and has only released more than ten songs since his debut.

He doesn't rely on singing to make money. Writing songs and singing are not only his hobbies, but also a means for him to expand his influence.

So all his songs can be listened to for free on music software.

As a new song, "Young China Says" quickly rose to the top of major song charts and soon took the top spot.

This situation is not surprising. After all, the Spring Festival Gala is a national stage. No matter how other songs are promoted, they cannot compare to this channel in terms of speed and coverage.

[Young China Says] Being able to dominate the Spring Festival Gala means that it has definitely won the love of most audiences across the country!

It's so hard to finally hear Gu Wei's new song. One song a year is not bad. As your fan, I am so sad!

[Sure enough, I was not disappointed. I have said long ago that Gu Wei's musical talent is absolutely unique in the current Chinese music scene.

Unfortunately, he is not a singer.

People who like his music can only hear it during the Spring Festival Gala or when he promotes his new movie! 】

[“On Young China” is really a sincere work. On the night of New Year’s Eve, my grandfather who watched the Spring Festival Gala with me listened to the whole song very carefully. I seemed to see tears in his eyes.

Compared to last year's "Dragon Scales of Heaven and Earth," this song has a much deeper emotional depth. It's fantastic!]

[Speaking of which, Gu Wei has been singing a positive Chinese-style song every year since "Chi Ling".

I hope all the popular songs can be compiled in the same quality in the future. I will definitely listen to every one of them!

[I found that since Gu Wei debuted, except for the song "Light Chaser" which deals with the love between men and women, all other songs are profound and magnificent.

Although I didn’t really like the movie “The Great Wall” released last year, I loved listening to “A Bridge of Fate”.

The lyrics of that song are from Wang Changling's "Marching to the Frontier", which has the same effect as "On the Youth of China".

It turns out to be a song written by one person! 】

【.】

[Young China Says] shined brightly during the Spring Festival Gala and spread throughout the streets and alleys across the country during the Spring Festival of the Year of the Rooster, but it did not have much impact on the singer himself.

Gu Wei's fame has long reached a limit. This opportunity to make an ordinary young artist become popular is just icing on the cake for him. At most, it can help Gu Wei increase his national popularity and make some middle-aged and elderly people who are not star-chasers have a deeper impression of him.

After staying up with his parents to celebrate New Year's Eve, Gu Wei took a day off at home on the first day of the new year. His phone kept ringing from morning to night because there were so many people sending him messages to wish him a happy new year.

The company's executives, friends in the circle, and people who have worked with Gu Wei in all aspects.

People like Nazha, Reba, and Zhang Tianai all sent WeChat messages and made phone calls. Gu Wei hid in his bedroom alone during the New Year's holiday, constantly replying to messages and answering phone calls, not daring to let his parents hear.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, several blockbuster films of this year's Spring Festival were released one after another.

Among them, the most popular and most anticipated one is "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back" directed by Xu Ke and produced by Zhou Xingchi.

Although the director is not Zhou Xingchi, he is the producer, screenwriter and supervisor. The movie is also the sequel to the hit "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" during the 2013 Spring Festival.

Therefore, everyone regards this film as Zhou Xingchi's film.

It’s just like the audience thinks that Wang Jiawei is the soul of "The Ferryman" rather than director Zhang Jiajia.

Zhou Xingchi invited Xu Ke to join this time entirely to make up for the shortcomings of his films - special effects.

Director Xu Ke is definitely the best in the country in terms of special effects. His 2001 film "The Legend of Zu" is still regarded as a classic in special effects by many people even more than ten years later.

Zhou Xingchi's comedy + Xu Ke's special effects make everyone look forward to this "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back".

Moreover, from 1.2 billion for "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" in 2013 to 3.3 billion for "The Mermaid" last year, the number of producers has increased from 4 to 9 and now to 21.

With the rising interests, more and more capitals are coming in. For Zhou Xingchi and the capital behind him, "The Demons Strike Back" can only win and not lose.

These are also the reasons why Zhou Xingchi asked Xu Ke to join him in completing the film.

Judging from the current situation, all new and old players really want to replicate or even surpass the box office glory that "The Mermaid" once created. Compared with "The Mermaid", "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back" is even better in terms of resource allocation and publicity and promotion strategies.

Among the 21 distributors of "The Monkey King 2", there are the original funding of "The Mermaid" such as Star Shine, Hehe, Matt, and Lianrui, as well as theater resources from Wanda, Dadi, Jinyi, Hengdian, etc., and e-commerce resources from Tao Piaopiao and Maoyan. From online to offline, from the Internet to physical theaters, this resource allocation can be called luxurious.

What’s amazing is that Huayi Brothers, who had previously had a feud with Zhou Xingchi on the set of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", has also become one of the producers.

In terms of publicity and promotion, "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back" once again used the operating methods of "The Mermaid", such as choosing the Spring Festival time slot and adopting the "hunger marketing" strategy, not watching the movie before the release, promoting online that "I owe Stephen Chow a movie ticket", and Zhou Xingchi taking Xu Ke and the crew on roadshows across the country.

The film company announced that the total investment cost of "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back" was 440 million yuan, and the publicity and promotion expenses alone were as high as 120 million yuan.

This is 20 million more than the original publicity and promotion costs of the current domestic box office champion [Detective Chinatown 2].

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the domestic film market's screening share was divided among several films released that day.

Among them, "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back" undoubtedly ranked first with a 33% share of the screenings.

This is not surprising, as this movie is indeed the most invested and most anticipated film during this year's Spring Festival.

The filming proportions of Cheng Long's "Kung Fu Yoga" and Han Han's "The Mermaid" are almost the same, both around 20%.

The final 27% was shared by the comedy "Forgetful Village" starring Shu Qi and Wang Qianyuan, and two animated films "Boonie Bears: Fantasy Space" and "Fengshen Dao: Nezha Conquers the Dragon King".

[Forgetful Village] can be a little more, about 12%.

In the afternoon, Gu Wei came out of the bedroom to eat.

"Are you finally willing to come out of the room?"

"Um~ I'm busy with work, and I can't have some quiet time even during the New Year. I'm on the phone in my room to deal with some things."

Gu Wei smiled awkwardly.

It would be troublesome if his parents heard him making a phone call in the living room.

"This morning, your dad and I video-called our relatives to wish them a happy new year. We don't have much to do today, so why don't we go out and see a movie together as a family?"

"Okay, Mom, why did you think of going out to the movies during the New Year?"

Gu Wei had no objection to this.

"If this were back home, your mom would be out playing mahjong right now.

We're unfamiliar with the capital, and we don't have any relatives or friends around us. We need to find something to do. We can't just sit there with our family of three staring at each other, right?"

"Mom, you're right

Is there anything you want to see?"

"Your dad said he wanted to watch Zhou Xingchi's Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back."

Gu Wei turned and looked at his father.

"I've thought about it, and Cheng Long's 'Kung Fu Yoga' looks pretty good too, but I'm more looking forward to Zhou Xingchi's 'Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back', after all, the previous 'Conquering the Demons' was pretty good."

Dad Gu explained.

"Okay, then I'll make a phone call and book a place."

Although the Spring Festival is the peak season for movie-watching, it is not a problem for Gu Wei to get the nearby Wanda Cinema to vacate a theater for him thanks to his connections.

As for the issue of "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back" being a bad movie, Gu Wei didn't even consider it. His parents wanted to watch a movie during the Chinese New Year, so he just watched it with them for fun.

"Why book the whole place? There are only three of us. We can just buy the tickets."

"That's fine, I'll order it now."

Gu Wei hesitated for a moment and then agreed.

If celebrities wear a mask or hat in real life, it will be difficult to recognize them unless someone pays special attention.

He was taking his parents to the movies and didn't care even if they were photographed by paparazzi.

After dinner, Gu Wei took his parents to the nearest Jinyi Cinema.

After getting the tickets from the machine in the lobby, the three of them waited for a while before entering the theater.

Gu Wei was wearing a black mask and a baseball cap, with a tall and slender figure. Everyone who saw him would think he was a handsome guy, but no one would have thought that the person behind the mask was the big star Gu Wei.

There were quite a lot of people in the cinema, and the theater was packed. In recent years, domestic audiences have developed the habit of watching movies during the Spring Festival holiday, which is why Gu Wei's parents suggested going out to see a movie.

[Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back] lasted less than two hours. After the movie ended, Gu Wei and his family walked out of the theater.

“I didn’t expect Zhou Xingchi’s film to be shot like this!”

Gu Wei smiled.

"Dad, is this too far from what you expected?"

"Indeed, this adaptation of Journey to the West, which is also a dark theme, is much thinner in story than the first one."

As he said this, Dad Gu frowned and thought about it.

"I feel like the actors' acting isn't that great. What are these Tang Monk and Sun Wukong acting like?

I remember the actor who played the main role was called Li Jiaheng, right? It's true that many people online are criticizing "little fresh meat" and it's not without reason. Compared to him, Wen Zhang in "Conquering the Demons" was so good."

Gu Wei smiled bitterly.

"Dad, your son is the biggest fresh meat in the entertainment industry."

“Uh~

Son, you don’t count. I’ve seen all your movies and you acted well. Your four years of acting were not in vain!

By the way, don’t forget to visit your former teacher at school during the Lunar New Year holidays. Even though you’re a big star now, you should never forget to respect your teachers.”

I was originally talking about movies with my father, but the topic suddenly turned to school.

"Don't worry, Dad. Every year when I have time, I will go back to school to visit my former teachers. They also helped me a lot when I first debuted."

Dad Gu nodded with relief.

"But Dad, you're right. Zhou Xingchi's "The Demons Strike Back" this year was indeed quite disappointing. From the actors to the plot, it's not very good.

Taking children to the movies during the Chinese New Year can easily cause psychological trauma.

The only redeeming feature is the special effects, which Director Xu Ke has really taken to the extreme."

"Do you think this movie will lose money? I saw online that 'The Demons Strike Back' cost hundreds of millions of dollars."

Gu Wei shook his head.

"Although the film wasn't well made, it wasn't a loss-making film. With the reputations of Zhou Xingchi and Xu Ke, and with the early publicity and the popular Spring Festival period, 'The Demons Strike Back' should be able to make a profit. However, the film's reputation hasn't improved, so it's unlikely to achieve the same success as 'The Mermaid'.

The reputation of Zhou Xingchi's films has gradually declined in recent years. The Douban score of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" is 7.1, which is quite different from the high scores of 8.9 and 9.1 of "A Chinese Odyssey". The subsequent "The Mermaid" has a Douban score of 6.9.

This film, "The Demons Strike Back," is likely to set a new low in ratings for his films."

As he spoke, Gu Wei frowned.

"Zhou Xingchi is undoubtedly a comedy master, even the king of comedy, but in recent years his sentiment and reputation have been depleted. Many netizens say that we used to owe him a movie ticket, and now he owes us a good work."

Gu Wei talked a lot with his father about movies. Zhou Xingchi is also a very important symbol for their generation.

"Dad, I felt a bit depressed watching Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back today. Tomorrow I'll take you two out to see Jackie Chan's Kung Fu Yoga. I've seen that movie in advance. It's a traditional Jackie Chan action comedy. It's good to have some fun during the New Year."

“Ask your mother.”

"We have nothing to do anyway, let's go out and watch a movie together tomorrow and then go shopping."

Gu Wei’s mother made the final decision.

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(End of this chapter)