Chapter 896 A New Series, A Sorrowful Person
Yu Jiang used to be a literary novelist.
The most prominent label associated with him is youthful and artistic.
Therefore, the titles of her novels are often something like "Waiting for You in the Rainy Season" or "Love at the Sunny End".
However, since she started working as a film producer, that youthful and artistic characteristic of hers has gradually faded.
This approach works for novels, but it doesn't work for commercial films.
A movie with an overly artistic title is almost guaranteed to flop.
Especially...
These days, when making movies, people often watch Lu Yanhe's films to see how they're made.
Lu Yanhe's most artistic film is "If Love Has a Destiny".
But even this name is not just about being artistic.
Because this movie is a tragic love story.
More accurately, this film is a period romance movie with a strong artistic flair. The title is closely related to the content, and for the main target audience of this film—middle-aged men and women—it undoubtedly fits the aesthetics of their era.
However, none of the slightly younger-oriented romance movies, such as "You Are the Apple of My Eye," "My Sassy Girl," and "The Notebook," are artistic or subtle.
This even influences the naming of other films produced by Linghe.
The script wasn't written by Lu Yanhe, and the movie title is quite straightforward, providing direct information so you can immediately tell what the movie is about.
For example, "Summer Night Villa Horror" and "The Corpse".
The importance of a good name to a work is self-evident.
So, the title "Scumbag, Stay Away From Me!" might sound a bit too direct and vulgar at first glance.
However, considering the theme of the movie and the online opinions and trends of the past year or two, after discussion, everyone felt that the name was not bad.
At least, the name alone is enough to attract a group of female viewers to watch this movie.
-
Upon learning of Lu Yanhe's return to China from online news, Li Yuefeng immediately sent him a message asking if he was free to have a meal together.
Lu Yanhe asked curiously: Shouldn't you be busy with publicity lately?
Li Yuefeng said: The domestic publicity has come to an end, and the overseas publicity has not yet begun.
Lu Yanhe: That's perfect. I've invited some friends over for dinner tonight. Why don't you come along? I thought you were doing some publicity.
Li Yuefeng: Sure.
Lu Yanhe thought to himself, since he had already called Li Yuefeng, it wouldn't be right not to call Xiao Yun as well, so he asked him as well.
However, Xiao Yun said she had a brand event in Jinkou that evening and couldn't make it.
Lu Yanhe wasn't surprised. During the promotional period, it was normal for Xiao Yun to be unable to find the time; Li Yuefeng's situation was rather strange. Lu Yanhe couldn't help but wonder, and asked Chen Yin, "Didn't the movie 'My Sassy Girl' offer Li Yuefeng any benefit?"
Chen Yin said that Xiao Yun benefited the most from this movie. Li Yuefeng was also liked by a large number of female viewers. However, he was already a popular star before, and this movie only helped him maintain his popularity.
Xiao Yun is different. Her most popular role before this was Guo Furong in *My Own Swordsman*, and her most popular variety show was *Young Days*. While this gave her considerable fame and recognition for her acting skills, she wasn't the type of female celebrity with a large, loyal fanbase. In other words, her commercial value wasn't actually as high as Li Yuefeng's. *My Sassy Girl*, however, gave Xiao Yun a certain idol appeal—
When it comes to actors, it's essentially about the star aura.
After a moment's thought, Lu Yanhe understood.
"How is Li Yuefeng's team doing?"
Chen Yin said, "His agent, Wu Bai, actually complained a bit, but Li Yuefeng himself didn't say anything and continued to cooperate with our work as always. In fact, the biggest problem with the movie 'My Sassy Girl' was that expectations from all sectors were too high, so it was a bit disappointing that it didn't become a blockbuster. For Li Yuefeng, although the female lead was the main character in this movie, he was the one who carried the box office. In the industry, he was also the core lead actor. So the lackluster box office performance more or less affected his commercial valuation."
Lu Yanhe: "This is really... For Lang Xia, breaking 100 million in box office revenue is a success, but for Li Yuefeng, breaking 300 million in box office revenue is a lackluster performance."
“Lang Xia collaborated with Yu Jiang, while Li Yuefeng collaborated with you, so the evaluation criteria are naturally different,” Chen Yin said. “Just like his starring role in ‘The Corpse’, the box office was only a little over 200 million yuan, and the global box office, including the domestic box office, was only a little over 50 million US dollars, but everyone thought that the movie was a hit. That was the box office result he achieved single-handedly, so 200 million yuan is definitely considered a hit.”
Lu Yanhe: "In that case, it would be better to cooperate with me less in the future, because cooperating with me is riskier."
“Why would anyone else give up the opportunity to work with you? Although we all understand the logic, on the other hand, if we collaborate with you, the box office will be 300 million, and the domestic box office return rate will be over 50%, which is considered a mediocre performance. Who would give up the opportunity to work with you?” Chen Yin also laughed. “Li Yuefeng is actually a very smart person. He specifically called me and said that if there are any obstacles in coordinating with his team, I should contact him directly. He probably also realized that Wu Bai was somewhat dissatisfied with the performance of this film and was worried that Wu Bai would be perfunctory with our subsequent arrangements, causing some unnecessary misunderstandings.”
Li Yuefeng has always been this kind of person.
But in fact, such people often gain more trust.
Chen Yin said, "I have a script here that is quite suitable for him, and I plan to invite him to star in it."
Lu Yanhe asked, "Which one?"
“The Missing Father.” As soon as Chen Yin mentioned the title, Lu Yanhe immediately recognized it.
This script was submitted by a new screenwriter signed by the company. After several revisions, it met the production standards and passed the review of Chen Yin and Lu Yanhe. It has now entered the preparation stage.
It's another suspenseful film.
“Sure,” Lu Yanhe said. “This story is indeed suitable for him to play.”
However, this film is an ensemble piece. While Li Yuefeng's character, the son, is a central protagonist, the story also revolves around his mother and sister, and the plot unfolds through their search for their missing father. Other main characters include a policeman and their neighbor.
This means that Li Yuefeng's salary will definitely be lower than the market price.
This is actually an industry practice. In ensemble films, with more actors, each actor's salary will be lower. Unless, of course, all the roles except for Li Yuefeng are played by low-paid "minor actors."
Chen Yin said, "For the role of the mother in this film, I plan to cast either Liu Zi or Wei Xue. Of course, I prefer the latter, even though the salary is much lower. What do you think?"
“Sure,” Lu Yanhe said. “I’ve only read the script; I don’t know much about the project. You can decide.”
"There's one more thing, Mr. Lu. Home Alone 4 has basically finished its theatrical run," Chen Yin said. "The box office was great, surpassing the series' best performance, reaching $1.1 billion. Are we really not going to make a sequel?"
"We've already made it clear that this is the last one, and everyone understands that's why the fourth film's box office has reached $1 billion. If you announce now that you're going to make another one, do you believe that everyone will immediately accuse you of fraud and never believe anything you say again?"
Chen Yin said with a smile, "Okay, I'm just a little reluctant to see such box office results. The box office was too good. However, the 'Home Alone' series is over, and we still don't have any ideas about which movie to release during next year's Spring Festival."
Lu Yanhe said, "I'm thinking about it too. You can also take a look at the company's script library. Are there any suitable ones for development? If there aren't any suitable ones, there's no need to force it. The Spring Festival season isn't something our company runs, so how can we keep occupying the slots?"
Chen Yin felt disillusioned.
Who exactly is this company making money for?
He often felt that his conversations with Lu Yanhe were somewhat of a reversal of roles.
The manager advised the boss to focus on making money, but the boss told him to take it slow and not to rush.
"..."
“Your previous film, ‘Childhood is an Adventure in a Summer Night,’ was quite interesting. Why don’t you make a sequel? Try releasing the sequel to this movie during the Spring Festival?” Lu Yanhe suggested, with a whimsical idea.
Chen Yin held back for a long time before finally swallowing the words, "Can we stop having such wild ideas?"
-
In the evening, a group of friends sat in a house near Ziyuan Bridge.
Since it wasn't a banquet hall, most people were either sitting or standing. The not-so-small living room was occupied by more than a dozen people, making it feel somewhat crowded.
Fortunately, they were all familiar friends, so the crowd actually made it more lively.
Dinner was prepared by a specially hired chef; Lu Yanhe and his group didn't have the ability to cook dinner for so many people.
Lin Yu added, "Why didn't you say so earlier? We could have each brought one or two dishes so we could have a table full of food."
Lu Yanhe laughed, "It's too much trouble. You can cook, but Li Yuefeng is still filming an advertisement this afternoon. Where can he cook a dish for you and bring it over? Even if he can cook, I wouldn't dare to eat it. I'm already considered one of the better cooks among celebrities, but I only cook a few meals for myself when I feel like it. I don't have the confidence to cook for you guys."
Li Yuefeng also said, "Then I can only go to the restaurant to get two dishes to bring over."
Chen Qin pointed at Lin Yu and said, "She has recently become obsessed with cooking and often tries to make all kinds of dishes, so she is very enthusiastic about cooking."
"Then aren't you enjoying yourself? You're getting a good deal," Lu Yanhe said. "You should be secretly happy that she's willing to practice her cooking skills."
Chen Siqi reached her hand behind Lu Yanhe's neck and gently pinched it.
Lu Yanhe immediately reached out and grabbed her wrist, saying in a serious tone, "Like me, I've been happy for many years."
Everyone burst into laughter.
Jiang Yuqian got up to pour herself some wine. When she turned around and saw this scene, she took out her phone and took a picture.
Li Zhibai followed.
"What are you filming? What's so interesting about this?"
Jiang Yuqian put away her phone and said, "Because such moments are rare, I wanted to record them."
Li Zhibai whispered in Jiang Yuqian's ear.
"Is it because I'm here that it's even more precious?"
Jiang Yuqian: "...Your words ruined the whole atmosphere."
Li Zhibai immediately pouted.
But after only two seconds of hesitation, he suddenly and swiftly kissed Jiang Yuqian on the lips, like a dragonfly skimming the water.
"..." Beneath Jiang Yuqian's rolled eyes, there was a hint of shyness.
She subconsciously looked around.
Fortunately, no one noticed them.
-
Lu Yanhe only stayed in the country for two days.
These past two days were all secured through Wang Biao's communication, coordination, and hard work with the "Men in Black" production team.
However, these two days are extremely important for Lu Yanhe.
Between film sets, he briefly returned to his own life, spending time with his loved ones and friends, reliving his youthful days, and catching up on each other's lives.
This meant that when Lu Yanhe returned to the airport, he didn't feel that inexplicable loneliness.
Fans still came to see him off at the airport.
Lu Yanhe, wearing sunglasses and headphones, with a fisherman's hat on his head, kept his head down and ignored everyone else as he followed Wang Biao and Zou Dong forward.
The bodyguards kept the others at bay.
Lu Yanhe was in such a good mood that he wanted to have a garment made with the words "I hate being picked up at the airport, I hate being seen off at the airport" written on it, so he could wear it every time he came to the airport.
When the image popped into his mind, he almost couldn't help but laugh.
Thankfully, after passing through security and entering the VIP lounge, the surrounding noise disappeared.
He took out his laptop, ready to look at the ideas and scripts he had recorded on his computer.
The Home Alone series has ended, and we really should think about what series to do next.
Harry Potter wouldn't work; the magical world doesn't have a home in China, so it has to be made in Hollywood.
A film like "The Hunger Games" with teenagers as the main characters is feasible, but the problem is that it's not suitable for the Chinese New Year release window.
"It," which also features children as the main characters, suffers from the same problem and is not suitable for the Spring Festival release.
Lu Yanhe will definitely make these kinds of movies in the future, but his primary consideration right now is to create films like the "Home Alone" series that can satisfy the viewing demand during the Spring Festival and also appeal to audiences worldwide.
Ideally, it would be a film of a similar genre to "Home Alone".
Low cost, high returns, simple to make, and perfect for the whole family.
There is a movie series called "Spy Kids," which is actually a comedy film starring children. It did quite well at the box office. The first movie, which cost $30 million, grossed more than $100 million worldwide.
However, this is too similar to the Home Alone series.
Should we immediately start repeating children's comedies like this?
Even if it's repeated, the results seem unlikely to be as good as "Home Alone".
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be such a genre in Chinese-language films.
What's suitable? This is so frustrating!
Please vote for me!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com