Chapter 194 The Fight Begins
On April 24, 2008, it was jointly produced by Huayi Company and Hollywood, starring a number of big-name stars such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Liu Yifei, and Li Bingbing.
The action movie "The Forbidden Kingdom", which cost 70 million US dollars to produce, premiered in China with great fanfare and triggered a viewing craze as soon as it was released.
The premiere at the Wanda International Cinema in Peking was star-studded, with many celebrities showing up to show their support, pushing the atmosphere in the cinema to an unprecedented climax.
On the stage of the theater, the leading actress Liu Yifei wore a silver off-shoulder dress with a black ribbon cleverly tied around her waist. Her long hair was tied up in a bun. She was graceful and stunning.
Li Bingbing next to them appeared in a black dress with a sharp contrast in color. The two of them were like a pair of beautiful black and white roses, competing with each other on the stage and attracting countless eyes.
Below the stage, flashes of light kept flashing and shutter clicks were heard one after another. Reporters raised their hands, eager to get a chance to ask questions to the big stars.
After Cheng Long, who was standing in the center, answered a reporter's question with a smile, the host of the premiere was quick to invite the next reporter to continue asking questions.
A middle-aged female reporter who was selected stood up slowly, a cunning light flashed in her eyes, and asked a sharp question.
"Hello Bingbing, I'm a reporter from Entertainment Weekly. As a senior who has been famous in the entertainment industry for a long time, you played a supporting role to Liu Yifei in The Forbidden Kingdom. Do you feel the pressure of being surpassed by the younger generation?"
Li Bingbing's face flashed with a hint of unnaturalness when she heard this. For such a huge production as "The Forbidden Kingdom", Huayi Company arranged for her to "carry the sedan chair" for Liu Yifei, so she was naturally unwilling.
Although he was unhappy, Li Bingbing, as an old hand, quickly controlled his facial expression, put on a generous and decent smile again, and answered calmly:
“I think actors should serve the role more, not all leading female roles are suitable for me.
As for pressure, there is definitely some. "The Forbidden Kingdom" is Yifei's big screen debut, and her performance during the filming was extremely good. Every time I act with her, I have to be fully focused."
After these words were spoken, Liu Yifei couldn't help but tighten the microphone in her hand. As one of the parties involved, she knew her own business and felt a strong sense of sarcasm in Li Bingbing's words.
The eldest brother Chenglong on the side also glanced at Li Bingbing meaningfully. It is hard not to think about this answer.
Others may not know, but he is very clear about some details during filming. When Li Bingbing and Liu Yifei were acting opposite each other, the supporting actress' acting skills were indeed better, almost completely beating the leading actress.
After the audience watches the movie and compares the acting skills of the two, they will understand that this statement is extremely ironic.
"Thank you Bingbing!" The female reporter sat down contentedly. She had already heard the hidden meaning.
What Li Bingbing meant was that the reason I didn’t play the leading female role was that I felt the role was not suitable for her.
As for whether the younger generation will surpass her, let’s wait until Liu Yifei has established a firm foothold on the big screen.
After all, this is just her first movie, and she is still far from being as famous as the established stars.
The next reporter asked Liu Yifei: "Yifei, I am a reporter from Southern Metropolis Daily.
What do you think about the recent uproar online about the new popular actress Liu Shishi snatching your endorsement? "
Liu Yifei's mouth twitched slightly, her face expressionless, and she responded calmly:
"I don't know the details of this matter! Although Tengda Group has contacted my agent, it is the brand's freedom to choose who to be the spokesperson."
She did not choose to answer the question directly, but she was speechless about her mother's actions some time ago.
Just a few days ago, on April 20, Tenda Group officially announced Liu Shishi as the spokesperson for the new game "DDTank".
Originally, this matter was a trivial matter in the entertainment industry. It was estimated that apart from Liu Shishi’s fans and the players of the game "Dandantang", no one would care much about it.
However, after Liu Xiaoli learned about this, she was not convinced and was angry that Tangren had used tricks to snatch the endorsement for her daughter, but she was helpless about what she could do about Tangren Company for a while.
So they contacted several media outlets and revealed the news that Tengda Group had suddenly changed its spokesperson.
The media who got the news naturally wanted to watch the fun and reported it with exaggeration, which quickly became popular on the entire Internet, saying that the leading female artist of Tangren Film and Television used malicious competition with a low price and snatched Liu Yifei's spokesperson position.
As soon as the news came out, Liu Yifei's fan "family" immediately couldn't sit still. How could someone dare to bully their "goddess"? How could this be tolerated!
So people started to denounce Tangren Films and Liu Shishi online. Some radicals even went to the official Weibo account of Tengda Group to curse them, accusing Tengda of being blind and choosing a rubbish spokesperson.
He even tagged Song Ci on Weibo, threatening that if he, as the chairman, did not manage his subordinates and did not give an explanation to their "goddess", he would boycott all products of Tenda Group in the future.
Liu Shishi’s fans, the “little lions”, are naturally very unconvinced and unwilling to give in.
When it comes to endorsements, it is the brand's freedom to choose who to endorse. What's so great about a "celestial being"? Why can't their "Lion King" be the spokesperson?
As a result, fans of both sides engaged in verbal battles and argued with each other online, from Weibo to Tieba, and from Tieba to major forums. The fight was so intense that "One Family" and "Little Lion" had completely become enemies.
However, in this "battle", the "little lion" is currently at a disadvantage and cannot defeat the "family".
After all, Liu Shishi is not as popular as Liu Yifei, and she has a huge and powerful fan base.
The Southern Metropolis Daily reporter's eyes lit up, grasping the key point in Liu Yifei's words, and hurriedly asked another question:
"You mean, Tengda Group did contact you first and wanted you to be its spokesperson. But later the endorsement was snatched away by Liu Shishi of Tangren Films, right?"
Liu Yifei's face suddenly darkened and she felt regretful.
Before the premiere, she had been reminding herself that she must be careful and avoid sensitive topics when answering reporters' questions today, but just now she accidentally brought up Tengda Group when answering.
What she is most worried about now is that the endorsement incident will drag Tengda into the whirlpool of public opinion, offending the country's largest Internet company and bringing herself unnecessary trouble.
Liu Yifei took a deep breath and replied coldly: "No comment! Each reporter can only ask one question. Next reporter, please ask."
Seeing this, the host hurriedly tried to smooth things over: "Please understand, this is the premiere of The Forbidden Kingdom.
Dear journalists, please do not ask questions that are not related to the film. If you have other questions, you can ask them after the show. Now, please ask the journalist sitting in the middle to ask questions. "
Following the host's instructions, a male reporter wearing glasses stood up and looked at Liu Yifei.
"Hello Liu Yifei, I'm a reporter from Toutiao Entertainment." The male reporter introduced himself.
Hearing the reporter introduce himself, Liu Yifei quickly calmed down, changed her expression, revealed a charming smile, and stared quietly at the reporter who asked the question.
At this moment, the people on and off the stage also had strange expressions on their faces, as if they were watching a show.
Just now the previous reporter mentioned the grievances between Liu Yifei and Tengda Group, and now a reporter from Tengda came out to interview Liu Yifei. It's really a coincidence.
"Ms. Liu, The Forbidden Kingdom is a big production that is highly anticipated by movie fans. What are your expectations for the box office of this movie?"
Liu Yifei breathed a sigh of relief, as the questions raised by the Tengda reporter were quite standard.
Moreover, regarding the box office prediction, the leading actors had already discussed it before the show started, and she already had the answer in her mind.
"Of course the more the movie box office, the better. The Forbidden Kingdom stars two superstars, Jacky Cheung and Jet Li. With the audience's love and support for them, I think the box office will definitely not be less than 100 million."
The audience immediately burst into warm applause. Although domestic movie box office records are breaking time and again, movies with box office revenue of over 100 million yuan are still rare.
Liu Yifei dared to boast that the box office of "The Forbidden Kingdom" would start from 100 million yuan, which shows that she is very confident in this movie, and made the audience look forward to this big production.
Just when everyone thought that the reporter from Toutiao Entertainment had finished asking questions, the reporter smiled and asked:
"Online, your fans compared The Forbidden Kingdom with A Little Thing Called First Love starring Liu Shishi, and believed that the former would definitely beat the latter at the box office. What do you think about this?"
Liu Yifei felt a little unhappy in her heart, but she actually agreed with her fans' opinions.
I really want to ask the reporter loudly, did you see that on my left is Big Brother Jacky Cheung, and standing on my right is Kung Fu Emperor Jet Li.
With the box office appeal of two superstars, how can the box office of "A Little Thing Called First Love", a low-budget youth film, be compared with that of "The Forbidden Kingdom".
Isn't it natural that the movie starring myself is better than the one starring Liu Shishi?
However, she obviously cannot say these words in her heart. After all, "A Little Thing Called First Love" is a movie produced by Tengda Culture. She is now trying her best not to conflict with Tengda and cannot belittle the movie.
After careful consideration, he replied: "Fans have the right to express their own opinions, and I cannot interfere.
As for my personal opinion, I can only say that "The Forbidden Kingdom" is a good work. As for "A Little Thing Called First Love", it has not been released yet and I have not seen it, so it is not convenient for me to comment on it. "
"Thank you!" The reporter from Toutiao Entertainment stopped there and did not ask any further questions.
"Please ask the reporter."
"Hello Yifei, I'm a reporter from xx Entertainment!"
Liu Yifei felt nervous when she heard that. It seemed that the reporters on the scene today were not going to let her go and they all kept asking her questions.
"What do you think are the differences between acting in movies and TV series?"
Fortunately, the reporter behind her did not ask any strange questions, and Liu Yifei handled them easily with her previous interview experience.
After several more reporters asked questions, it was eight o'clock in the evening.
The host then announced the end of the interview session and everyone was invited to watch the movie.
Time passed, and the 104-minute movie came to a hurried end and was quickly finished.
The film critics and audiences in the audience all had an indescribable feeling and were deeply disappointed with this highly anticipated, large-scale co-production between China and foreign countries.
In the audience, Lu Yuguang frowned, looking confused.
He never understood the story of "The Forbidden Kingdom" from beginning to end, and didn't understand what the director of the film wanted to express.
He nudged Lin Hao beside him with his elbow and asked in a low voice: "Haozi, what do you think of this movie?"
Lin Hao had a complicated expression, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.
He was a fan of Liu Yifei, and he used his connections to get him some tickets for the premiere. He also asked his roommates Lu Yuguang and Tang Xiaochuan to support "The Forbidden Kingdom".
But he felt that the movie was unsatisfactory and the overall storyline was a mess.
Goddess Liu Yifei's performance in the movie was also mediocre, and her acting skills were crushed by Li Bingbing, leaving her fans speechless.
After thinking hard for a long time, Lin Hao squeezed out a sentence: "The fighting scene is good!"
Tang Xiaochuan curled his lips and complained mercilessly: "What a waste of time and money, the plot is too bad! Even if there are Jacky Cheung and Jet Li, it won't work. I might as well read more books in the dormitory if I have this time."
Seeing that both roommates were dissatisfied with the movie, Lin Hao immediately comforted them: "Don't take it too seriously, combine work and rest, just come out to relax."
Other audience members seemed to share the same sentiment and discussed the movie.
Someone cursed and shouted: "What a rubbish movie! What kind of crap is this?"
Other viewers followed suit and said, "rnm, bad movie, give me back my money!"
After the show, the three followed the crowd out of the theater. They heard a lot of discussions along the way, but most of them were negative reviews and they were not optimistic about the movie.
On the taxi back to Peking University, Tang Xiaochuan looked at his depressed roommate and couldn't help but joked, "Haozi, your goddess's movie is bound to fail."
Lin Hao muttered, "It doesn't matter if the movie fails. Anyway, I like Zhao Linger and Xiao Longnu."
Lu Yugang, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, turned around and asked, "It's a bad movie, nothing worth talking about. Haozi, let me ask you, when we graduate in a few days, will Lao Si return to school?"
Lin Hao nodded, with a confident look on his face: "I have called and asked, Song Ci will come back to Peking University on the day of graduation to see us and get together."
Lu Yugang sighed quietly, "Ah, time flies, and four years have passed in a flash. Last year, the fourth child graduated early, and we will graduate soon, too, and we will have to go our separate ways."
"Brother Gang, why are you talking so sadly? Even after graduation, we will all stay in Peking to develop our careers. It will be convenient for us to meet and get together in the future. We are not going our separate ways."
Lu Yuguang shook his head slightly. Song Ci was no longer on the same level as the other three. Now the four of them in the dormitory had a good relationship. How much contact would they still have after a few years of graduation?
Lin Hao seemed to see through Lu Yugang's thoughts: "The fourth brother is a man who cherishes the old times, but we can't be too far away from him. The three of us brothers must also do something about our careers."
Tang Xiaochuan nodded in agreement: "Yes, a good blacksmith must be strong himself. If I can't make a name for myself, I will be embarrassed to see the fourth brother."
"I won't say much else. Let's have a good reunion when the fourth brother comes back to school on graduation day." Lu Yuguang said, with a hearty smile of a man from Northeast China on his face.
(End of this chapter)
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