Chapter 485 Progress (8,000-word update!)
By the end of October, "Road to Glory" was still maintaining a daily box office of around 30,000 yuan.
This art film's extended screening period of two months has paved a new path for art films in terms of screenings.
On the last day of October, the official website of "Road to Glory" announced that in order to celebrate the film's nomination for the Fei Hong Awards, the number of screenings will be increased from November 3rd to November 5th, with an additional 2,000 screenings per day. At the same time, the pre-sale channel will be opened.
This time, every film company in the industry is watching this movie closely, wanting to see how it performs at the box office over the next three days.
If "Road to Glory" continues to perform well at the box office after two months of screenings (including two large-scale previews during holidays), it will truly be a legendary film release, a landmark moment—although in many people's minds, the first two months alone are enough to make it legendary.
On November 2, Peng Zhixing's interview with Shang Yongzhou and Lu Yanhe was broadcast.
The two interviews contained different content.
However, a trending topic called "Why do they both have an attitude of treating awards like dirt?" appeared on the list, which made many netizens who were unaware of the situation curious and clicked on it. Then, they saw a screenshot made by a netizen.
The screenshot contains interview content between Lu Yanhe and Shang Yongzhou.
Peng Zhixing asked both of them for their opinions on whether they could win the Fei Hong Award this year.
Both of them actually answered the question quite sincerely.
There's no need to repeat Lu Yanhe's words. Shang Yongzhou said, "It's been a long time since I've been nominated for the Fei Hong Award. Actually, I've won the Fei Hong Award twice already. The chances of winning this time are very low. I don't think anyone has ever won it three times."
After Shang Yongzhou finished speaking, Peng Zhixing had a smile on his face that said, "Why did I even ask that question?"
The reason why the trending topic "Why do they both have an attitude of treating awards like dirt" became so popular is because they were so relaxed when answering this question, which was very different from the other nominees.
One netizen jokingly said this.
Who knew that this sentence would become so popular for no apparent reason?
Of course, this might not seem strange to many people. On the internet today, a phenomenon has gradually emerged where people admire a sense of "casualness," especially the "casualness" of showing "not caring" about things that others care about.
In this era, utilitarianism has gained unprecedented legitimacy. It no longer appears as a negative term, and people can openly admit their utilitarianism, even resorting to less-than-honorable means to get what they want.
Support for the darker side of human nature has reached an all-time high on the internet today.
This is because everyone has realized that those who come from humble backgrounds cannot live as upright and honest as the protagonists in novels.
At the same time, another phenomenon is that people who live life with great effort are therefore more envious of those who "live life without so much effort." Now, people have a term to describe this: a sense of relaxation.
Because they don't have it, they envy and yearn for it.
After seeing the interpretations about him under this trending topic, Lu Yanhe did not silently accept the claim. Instead, he posted a Weibo: "Don't spread rumors. I don't regard awards as dirt. I really want to win awards. I've acted in so many dramas and received quite a few nominations, but I haven't won many awards. You can't expect me to be indifferent to fame and fortune and live a carefree life at such a young age, can you?"
When netizens saw Lu Yanhe's Weibo post, they were initially surprised, but then burst out laughing in disbelief.
One netizen left a comment in Lu Yanhe's comment section: God Lu, can you maintain your divine status? Stop coming down to earth to cause trouble all the time. I'm not used to it when you're so down-to-earth.
Lu Yanhe replied: I'm not used to you calling me God Lu [winking face].
On November 3, "The Road to Glory" had a large-scale preview screening in two thousand cinemas.
Pre-sales have exceeded 2 million, and the estimated daily box office is 6.2 million.
Whether or not this number can be achieved is being watched closely by the industry.
However, it is clear that everyone, including box office forecasting agencies, underestimated the market's enthusiasm for "Road to Glory".
Even though it had been in previews for two months, and even though November 3rd was a Friday, a weekday, the daily box office had already exceeded 6.2 million by 4 pm, far exceeding predictions.
At this moment, the industry was once again shocked.
Because "Road to Glory" truly achieved that.
Using awards to boost box office revenue—is this a new approach for art films?
The Fei Hong Award quickly claimed this achievement.
Why?
These three words came to mind for everyone in the industry.
Why was "Road to Glory" able to create such a box office miracle?
No matter how you analyze it, it's all just theoretical talk.
There is no precedent to follow.
All we can do is ask the audience members who went to the cinema today why they chose to see this movie.
The box office statistics agency then arranged for someone to do this.
They collected nearly three thousand samples, and the feedback was that they had all heard that the film "Road to Glory" was very well made and was an award-winning film co-starring Lu Yanhe and Shang Yongzhou. They had wanted to see it for a long time, but the cinemas where the preview screenings were held were either too far away or they couldn't get tickets. Today, they finally had the opportunity to buy tickets at a nearby cinema, so they came to see it.
According to box office statistics, 67% of viewers previously did not like to go to the cinema to watch art films.
They don't usually watch art films, but some of them came to see "Road to Glory" because they'd seen discussions and reviews about the movie on their social media, which piqued their interest. Others knew it had won many awards and wanted to see what made it so good.
The industry summarized this analysis as follows: the film's reach was extensive, which allowed it to gradually gain wider recognition and generate interest, eventually planting the seed of "I'd like to see this movie someday" in the minds of many.
Two months after a movie's release, even if most of the time is spent in large-scale previews, its fan effect has already reached its minimum.
Audiences who are still willing to go to the cinema at this time must have been attracted by other factors.
At this point, the promotion of "Road to Glory" was no longer focused on Lu Yanhe and Shang Yongzhou.
Because basically everyone who knows about this movie knows that it stars those two.
At this point, the focus of the publicity shifted to the film's achievements and the discussion of "Do you think 'Road to Glory' can win something at this year's Fei Hong Awards?"
This kind of discussion can lead participants to the cinema.
If you want to discuss this, you should at least have seen the movie first, right?
Almost all of the nominated films this year were box office hits, and they were all subsequently released on video platforms after their theatrical run, with audience numbers on a completely different scale compared to "Road to Glory".
The number of nominations for "Path of Glory" was almost the same as theirs.
In short, watching "Paths of Glory" has become a kind of "electronic social" activity; if you want to participate in online interactions, you have to watch the movie first.
It was probably for these reasons that "Road to Glory" finally grossed 10.97 million yuan on November 3, breaking the 10 million yuan mark again in daily box office revenue.
How much impact will this figure have on the industry?
Another art film nominated for the Fei Hong Award, "Happy Hour," announced late at night that it will be re-released nationwide on November 5.
The films "Nine Yin" and "Upstream," which were released this summer, have also announced that they will be re-released in November.
Everyone wants to ride the wave of the Fei Hong Award and see if they can replicate the miracle of "Road to Glory".
The following Saturday, the box office for "Road to Glory" remained unchanged at 10.9 million.
On Sunday, "Happy Hour" was urgently re-released nationwide, with more screenings than "Paths of Glory".
"Path of Glory" limited its screenings to only 2,000 shows.
"Happy Hour" can be scheduled as long as the theaters are willing to do so.
Ning Xiulian and Yu Qin made surprise appearances at six cinemas to meet with audiences and conduct promotional tours.
Happy Hour earned 4.2 million yuan at the box office on Sunday, while Road to Glory saw a decline, earning just over 8 million yuan, still outperforming Happy Hour.
On Monday, "Road to Glory" reduced its screenings again, returning to normal levels.
"Happy Hour" was not reduced, but its box office on Monday plummeted to just over 1 million.
For an art film with a budget of only a few hundred thousand, the box office success of "Happy Time" had already made it a fortune.
This temporary re-release garnered 5.2 million yuan in box office revenue in just two days, surprising and astonishing the industry.
This approach of combining awards with screenings—is it actually working?
November is typically a slow season for the film market.
Most blockbuster movies don't choose to be released in this month.
For this reason, even though Happy Time only grossed a little over one million a day, it still managed to get about 8% of the screenings.
Clearly, in the eyes of theater managers, with the Fei Hong Awards approaching and discussions about the nominated films increasing, "Happy Time" is likely to achieve good box office results.
-
While the film market was being stirred up by the nominated films for the Fei Hong Awards, Li Zhibai and Liu Bige's film finally wrapped up filming.
Liu Bige said, "Filming is finished, congratulations."
Li Zhibai was holding a bouquet of flowers, a gift from the film crew.
"Director, we've finally finished filming. What are you planning to do next?" Li Zhibai asked with a radiant expression, showing none of the fatigue that most actors experience when wrapping up a film.
Liu Bige said, "Let's get a good night's sleep first, and then we can think about what comes next."
Li Zhibai said, "I'm planning to travel around Southeast Asia. Do you want to come with me? It'll be nice to relax."
Liu Bige looked at Li Zhibai in surprise.
Li Zhibai, completely unaware of anything amiss, asked, "Don't you have time?"
Liu Bige said, "It's not that I don't have time, it's just... how do you have so much energy? We just finished filming, and you already have the energy to go out and have fun?"
“I’m not going out to play, I’m going on vacation,” Li Zhibai said. “It’s too cold here, let’s find a warm place to stay.”
Liu Bige said, "I still have to prepare for my third film, edit footage, and oversee the filming of Lu Yanhe's 'Love Letter'—"
“That’s all a month or two from now. You should take advantage of the time now and rest properly. Look at all the things you still have to do. How can you not rest properly?” Li Zhibai said. “I’ve been listening to you for a while but I haven’t heard you make any plans. So come with me. I’ll make the plans, and you can just follow me.”
Liu Bige stared, wanting to say something, but looking at Li Zhibai's matter-of-fact expression, he remained silent for a long time.
Filming this movie with Lee Ji-baek was a strangely relaxing experience.
Because whenever Li Zhibai is on set, there's never a lack of "commotion".
It's not that wherever Li Zhibai is, there will always be chaos, but it will definitely not be peaceful.
Li Zhibai is not someone who can stay quietly by himself.
However, despite being such a boisterous person, he is not annoying to others.
The character he played in the movie wasn't exactly aloof and quiet.
Therefore, everyone tacitly tolerated and cooperated with his antics—in many people's eyes, Li Zhibai's actions were just him trying to find the right state for his performance.
Even Liu Bige initially thought so.
That's certainly not the case.
Liu Bige quickly discovered that Li Zhibai was indeed this kind of person.
One night, they finished work early, so they went to see the movie "Happy Hour" which was showing at the time.
In less than twenty minutes, Li Zhibai fell asleep with his head tilted back.
They don't even pretend.
After they finished watching the movie and came out of the theater, Liu Bige said to him, "Don't you like watching this kind of movie?"
Li Zhibai yawned honestly and said, "I don't like watching, I'm sleepy."
Liu Bige has encountered many actors who have expressed their longing for art films in front of him, but Li Zhibai is the first one to frankly say that he "doesn't like watching them."
Liu Bige was both amused and exasperated.
"Why didn't you say so earlier? If you had, we could have watched a different movie."
“I’d like to give it a try, just in case this film is to my liking and I can keep watching it,” Li Zhibai said. “But so far, I haven’t really come across many films that I like.”
Liu Bige nodded.
At that moment, he thought that it was fortunate that he was not making an art film this time, but a romantic comedy; otherwise, Li Zhibai might not have been able to understand the script.
Although Liu Bige's first film was a movie like "Late Spring," he is not the kind of director who prioritizes art films.
He never wanted to be an art-house film director; he wanted to be an auteur director with his own style.
Whether it's an art film or a commercial film, people can immediately tell, "Oh, this is a film directed by Liu Bige."
Actually, meeting an actor like Li Zhibai to film a romantic comedy like "Even Faking Death Is Not Allowed" was like finding an exceptionally suitable and inspired actor.
The only pity is that Ji Miao, who played the mentally ill girl, was a little lacking.
They tried their best and were serious, but when it comes to acting, if it's not suitable, it's not suitable.
After the arduous filming process, Liu Bige decided that the movie should be edited from Li Zhibai's first-person perspective.
After filming wrapped, Li Zhibai said goodbye to everyone on the crew and returned to Ziyuan Bridge.
He asked in the group chat: Who's home?
Lu Yanhe replied instantly: Me.
Li Zhibai: I finished filming today. I'll be there tonight. How about some skewers?
Lu Yanhe: Okay, shall we eat at the restaurant, or order takeout?
Li Zhibai: Let's eat at the restaurant.
Lu Yanhe: Okay.
Yan Liang: Sigh, I'm still filming...
Lu Yanhe: When are you going to wrap up filming?
Yan Liang: It will take about another month.
Lu Yanhe: Are there that many scenes in "The Summit"?
Yan Liang: It was very difficult to film. This time, director Chen Mofan didn't even attend the Fei Hong Award ceremony, so the filming schedule was under a lot of pressure.
Lu Yanhe: Keep it up!
Li Zhibai: After you finish filming "The Summit", can you take a break for a while?
Yan Liang: Pretty much. I didn't take on any other roles after that, and Zhou Ping'an didn't bring me any new scripts either.
Li Zhibai: Don't just sit at home waiting for him to send you a script. His mind is all on that Ma Zhiyuan. You have to find a suitable script yourself.
Yan Liang: Let's talk about it after I finish filming "The Summit". Right now, all my energy is focused on this movie. It's too difficult to act. Every night when I lie in bed, I feel completely empty.
Li Zhibai: Why is "The Summit" so difficult to act in? Is it because there is a lot of filming to do every day?
Yan Liang: No, it's just that it's difficult to act. Director Shen has high standards, so I basically had to film each scene three or four times for the actual shooting. My scalp was always tight. Maybe it's because I've never acted in a movie that demands such high acting skills from me before. Filming "The Gold Rush" was just a matter of the difficult and harsh filming environment, but "The Summit" really demands a lot from my acting skills. Anyway, I could only think about acting every day, and I didn't have the energy to think about anything else.
Lu Yanhe: Keep it up!
Li Zhibai: I'll hold on until filming wraps up, then I'll get a proper rest.
Yan Liang: Hmm.
-
Lu Yanhe put down his phone and pondered for a while.
To be fair, Yan Liang's talent in acting was not particularly outstanding.
Yan Liang has no problem playing typical characters his age, or in slice-of-life dramas like "Friends." However, a drama like "The Summit," which focuses on fraud, with its interplay of deception, offense and defense, plays within plays, and scams within scams, might be a bit demanding for him.
Will Yan Liang pursue a career as a dramatic actor?
If he chooses this path, he may not know when he will be able to reach a higher position.
Those actors who aren't naturally gifted aren't incapable of performing; they just accumulated experience over a very long time, often until they were in their forties.
Of course, Yan Liang was very lucky. The series "Friends" made him a star, and this series has visibly become a guarantee for him over the years.
However, Lu Yanhe did not want Yan Liang to end up like the original cast of "Friends," who had almost no other representative works besides "Friends." Apart from Jennifer Aniston, almost all the other actors were trapped in the show and could never get out of it.
Actually, Yan Liang's image and style are very different from the other two. Because he is the only one among them who insists on working out, he has a very muscular physique, the kind that you can't really tell when he's dressed, but once he takes his clothes off, you'll be amazed.
He looks a bit like an actor Lu Yanhe knows, Eddie Peng.
Lu Yanhe thought about it carefully.
Besides filming "Chinese Paladin" the year after next, we also need to write a play for Yan Liang.
This will allow people to see his potential in action scenes as soon as possible.
-
"You want to write an action scene script for Yan Liang?"
At the barbecue stall, Li Zhibai looked at Lu Yanhe in surprise, still only having taken a bite of the grilled fish in his hand.
Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "Don't you think Yan Liang's image is actually quite suitable for action scenes?"
Li Zhibai said, "He is suitable, but he doesn't actually know kung fu."
"You don't need real kung fu to film action scenes, as long as it looks good," Lu Yanhe said. "I've even acted in action scenes before."
Although it was only a brief appearance on Phoenix Terrace.
Li Zhibai said, "That's fine, but why did you suddenly decide to write an action scene script for Yan Liang?"
“I’ve actually thought of many stories like this before, but I can’t act it, and neither can you, so I can only ask Yan Liang to play the role.”
Why can't I act?
"Look at yourself in the mirror."
Li Zhi cursed, "Damn it."
Lu Yanhe laughed.
Li Zhibai said, "Actually, there's something else I want to ask you. My filming is finished, and it's temporarily come to a halt. I'm preparing to start working on 'Nineteen Years of Crime Records,' but the thought of starting it makes me nervous."
Lu Yanhe asked, "Are you ready to start it up?!"
He was pleasantly surprised.
Li Zhi nodded a hundred times.
"Do you think I can do it well?" Li Zhibai asked worriedly.
Lu Yanhe: "To be honest, you have no experience in making a film and television project on your own, so it's perfectly normal that you won't do well. However, you have the innate conditions to make it successful, and your advantages are too great. If you make a project on your own, you won't have to worry about finding investment or finding a platform to broadcast it. Moreover, you have Teacher Liu Jiazhen to help you review the script. Furthermore, you are Li Zhibai, so no matter what type of talent you need, you can find people. People will be willing to believe that your project can be successful."
Li Zhibai's biggest advantage is that he is a popular star.
In the entertainment industry, if a popular star wants to make his own movie, everyone will help him.
This is the current situation.
Li Zhibai took a deep breath.
“Okay, since you’ve said so, I won’t keep nagging,” Li Zhibai said. “Then you and Yan Liang can also help me as producers.”
Lu Yanhe said, "I can do it, but I'm going to film 'Love Letter' right next month, so I might not have time to help you."
Li Zhibai said, "I don't really need you to do anything for the crew. Building a crew requires people in various roles, and I need you to help me make judgments and oversee things."
"Of course, these are no problem."
Li Zhibai said, "Sigh, I'm still very uneasy. I started doing all sorts of things when I didn't know anything."
"The most important thing you need to do right now is to find a reliable producer you can trust to help you with this," Lu Yanhe advised.
-
The Fei Hong Award Ceremony was held on November 9th.
Lu Yanhe arrived at the scene dressed in a black suit.
Chen Ziyan personally stayed by his side.
On such crucial occasions, Chen Ziyan would usually accompany him.
Everyone Lu Yanhe met along the way praised him—not for his Best Actor nomination, but for the distribution strategy of "Road to Glory".
Currently, the most legendary event in Lu Yanhe's life is the box office miracle of "The Road to Glory".
This box office success is not only due to the combined appeal of Lu Yanhe and Shang Yongzhou, but also to the path taken by Lu Yanhe's innovative distribution strategy.
Because of the success of "Road to Glory", seven films nominated for the Fei Hong Award will be re-released in theaters tomorrow.
At this moment, some people who had attended the "Road to Glory" seminar suddenly remembered a sentence that Lu Yanhe had mentioned at that meeting:
Awards and box office revenue should not be separated; awards can stimulate box office revenue.
Besides this matter, there is another thing that everyone is very concerned about, which is the Hollywood film that Lu Yanhe has taken on.
Even Chen Bige was curious and asked him about it as soon as they met.
Lu Yanhe briefly explained the situation of the movie "The Mist".
Chen Bige was somewhat surprised after hearing this. "It's a horror movie? You really shocked me. Why would you suddenly take on a horror movie?"
“Because it’s not possible to film in China,” Lu Yanhe said with a smile. “The director took the initiative to contact me, showed me the script, and invited me to star in it. He was very sincere. He has also directed two successful horror films, so I thought it was an opportunity worth trying.”
Chen Bige asked, "Who is the director?"
“Mukken Sorge”.
"Ah? Him?" Chen Bige looked enlightened. "His wife is Chinese."
Lu Yanhe looked surprised. "Huh? Really?"
"You didn't know?" Chen Bige was also surprised.
"I don't know." Lu Yanhe shook his head. "I've only met him once."
Chen Bige: "Okay, there are quite a few Hollywood directors who discriminate against Chinese people. You know, there's a prevailing view in the US that promotes the China threat theory. He's one of the few Hollywood directors who openly gets close to Chinese people."
Lu Yanhe suddenly realized.
“I hadn’t paid attention to this before.”
Chen Bige said, "Anyway, if you go to Hollywood to make movies, you have to be careful. There are quite a few people who discriminate against Chinese people and will deliberately trip you up."
Lu Yanhe nodded, "I will be prepared. If anyone dares to bully me, I will not stand still and let them bully me."
Chen Bige smiled gently.
"Although I had guessed that you would definitely go abroad to film, I didn't expect you to go so soon."
Lu Yanhe: "I'll take some photos when the opportunity arises."
Chen Bige nodded.
“Oh, right, there’s one more thing I wanted to tell you. You gave me two scripts before, one is ‘Rouge’ and the other is ‘Raise the Red Lantern’. I plan to start working on ‘Raise the Red Lantern’ after I finish filming ‘Love Letter’,” she said.
Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "Okay."
Chen Bige asked, "You can take back this script and write it yourself, as long as I act in it."
“You do it, Sister Bige. I don’t have the energy for it myself. You did a great job with Rouge.”
Although the copyright for the film "Rouge" remained with Lu Yanhe, who was also listed as a producer, it was actually Chen Bige who pushed the project forward from its inception to its release.
With the experience gained from "Rouge", Lu Yanhe believed that Chen Bige could do an even better job with "Raise the Red Lantern".
Moreover, to be honest, filming "Raise the Red Lantern" was not as difficult as filming "Rouge".
It's a film that showcases a director's skill; the requirements for filming difficulty are actually lower.
When Lu Yanhe first watched "Raise the Red Lantern," he had a very direct feeling that the film was like a meticulous Chinese painting, with an extremely neat structure and visuals, as well as the actors' performances.
Of course, the most striking feature of this film is that it uses a highly structured visual style to vividly depict a person's "alienation" on a solid textual foundation.
Chen Bige is perfectly cast in this film. Her image and acting skills are a perfect match for the role.
If we wait a few more years, and she plays a college graduate again, it might not be as convincing.
What makes this film so different from "Rouge" is that it's a purely women's film.
In "Rouge," Huang Kai-yan played the Twelfth Master, but in "Raise the Red Lantern," this master was only a silhouette, with no clear view of his face.
Lu Yanhe felt that the script was a copy of his own, but if it really was going to be a drama about women, it would be more suitable for women to do it.
He's not Zhang Yimou.
-
"Yan He, let me introduce you to Ning Zhiyuan, the director of 'Nine Yin,' and Zhou Yuning, the lead actor."
Huang Tai from Longyan Film Industry approached with two people and greeted Lu Yanhe.
Lu Yanhe looked at the two people in front of him with some surprise.
"Hello Director Ning, hello Teacher Zhou." Lu Yanhe immediately extended his hand enthusiastically and shook hands with them one by one, saying, "I am Lu Yanhe. I am so glad to finally have the opportunity to meet you all. I really like the movie 'Nine Yin Manual'. It has been a long time since I have seen a martial arts film that makes my blood boil so much."
Ning Zhiyuan: "I hope we can collaborate on a martial arts film sometime in the future."
Lu Yanhe immediately nodded, "Okay, I'd love to try it too. I've never filmed a martial arts movie before."
He looked at Zhou Yuning and asked, "Is this your first time acting in a martial arts film, Mr. Zhou?"
Zhou Yuning is 35 years old this year. He became famous with the film "Nine Yin", and his hard work has finally paid off.
He smiled and waved his hand, saying, "I've filmed this before, a long time ago."
Lu Yanhe suddenly realized, "Actually, I really want to know, did you actually go to Jiangnan to find Liu Suyin in the end? The ending of the movie is too open-ended."
Zhou Yuning smiled and looked at Ning Zhiyuan, saying, "You'll have to ask the director."
Ning Zhiyuan said, "This is the second part of the story."
Lu Yanhe's eyes widened in surprise, and he asked, "Will there be a second part to 'Nine Yin'?"
“Yes, I’m writing the script right now,” Ning Zhiyuan said. “I wrote this ending to leave room for a sequel.”
Lu Yanhe: "Could you give me an invitation to the premiere of the second film? I'd like to be among the first to see it."
"That would be wonderful."
-
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