Chapter 221 No One Can Fight
Giving the role of the heroine in "Detective Chinatown 2" to Liu Yifei was not a rash decision by Gu Wei, nor was it a deliberate gesture of goodwill on his part.
But as a friend, without affecting his own interests, he really wanted to help Liu Yifei a little to repay the favor.
To be honest, the two have known each other for almost 3 years.
The two met on the set when Gu Wei was filming "The Blade of the Assassin" in 2012. At that time, Gu Wei was still an unknown film and television academy student, a rookie with no fame and nothing but money.
At that time, Liu Yifei had already reached the top of the domestic female star list. Although she was able to participate in this movie because of the face of China Film Group, she also made great contributions to the film by using her fame.
The original movie's box office was less than 100 million yuan. With the addition of Liu Yifei's fame and excellent publicity and promotion that was different from the original, "The Sword Identity" was able to sell over 200 million yuan.
This movie also brought Gu Wei his initial fame and was the first money he earned in the entertainment industry.
Liu Yifei did not mind Gu Wei's low status, and the two became friends.
Later, Gu Wei insisted on filming "Detective Chinatown". Before the movie was released, in order to increase his fame, he released his own songs for promotion and asked Liu Yifei for help. The other party agreed without hesitation.
You know, with Liu Yifei's personality, she almost never helps promote other people's movies except when her own movies are released.
This time, when Gu Wei was promoting "The Return of the Great Sage" online, he didn't even say a word, and the other party took the initiative to help. He couldn't refuse this favor.
Looking back on the three years he had known Liu Yifei, as a friend, it seemed that she had always been helping him, but Gu Wei never had the chance to repay these favors.
It just so happened that he was going to shoot "Detective Chinatown 2" this time, so he wanted Liu Yifei to play the female lead, which would not only increase the film's fame, but also allow him to repay a favor.
In fact, although the heroine of "Detective Chinatown 2" seems to be a top resource, for ordinary actresses, its effect is not as good as a popular TV series.
Because it does not attract fans, it can only provide the actress with a beautiful film performance.
Like the original heroine, she was not famous to begin with. After filming "Detective Chinatown 2", the movie was a box office hit, but she just didn't become popular.
But it’s different for post-85 flowers like Liu Yifei or Yang Mi. These people are already very popular among the people, but what they lack is some impressive film achievements.
This kind of role can maximize their benefits.
Just when the online and offline promotions for "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" were in full swing, on February 10th, "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (Part 1)" was released in China.
"The Hunger Games" is a big IP in Hollywood, just like "Twilight". The first two films achieved excellent box office results in the North American market.
The film "Mockingjay: Part 1" grossed $333.18 million in North America, becoming the annual box office champion in North America in 2014!
Unfortunately, this global blockbuster movie did not perform well in the Chinese market after entering it. The box office revenue on the first day of its release was only 21.62 million, and its Douban score was only 6.2 points, making it the lowest-rated film in the series.
On the 11th, the second day after the release of "The Hunger Games", the national box office closed at 19.87 million, a normal decrease. This situation also indicates that this movie, which won the North American box office championship for 14 years, may eventually have a box office of more than 200 million in the Chinese market.
Another Hollywood blockbuster has failed. This year's Lunar New Year box office seems to be under some curse. Movies that were initially expected to achieve high box office results have all failed, and the film market continues to be cold.
Due to the lack of good films being shown, the total daily box office in the country continued to decline, even less than 100 million yuan on weekdays.
This is the national single-day box office result, and it was during the hottest Lunar New Year period in previous years.
It should be noted that after a year of cinema chain construction in 2015, the total number of cinemas in China exceeded 6,000, with a total of 32,000 screens, nearly 10,000 more than in 2014. The number of screens is catching up with that of North America, the world's largest film market.
At present, there is no shortage of hardware facilities such as cinemas and screens, as well as audience enthusiasm for watching movies in China, but there are no good movies being released.
During last year's Lunar New Year holiday, movie-watching conditions were not as good as they are now, but due to the release of popular movies such as "Detective Chinatown 3," "Personal Tailor," and later "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" and "From Vegas to Macau," the national box office for a single day was often around 200 million yuan, and at most even reached 300 million yuan.
In comparison, it further highlights the quietness of the market during this period of this year.
Just when everyone in the industry was focusing their attention and expectations on several blockbusters that would be released on the first day of the Lunar New Year on February 19, the premiere press conference for "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" was held in the conference room of the Wanda Hotel in Beijing on February 12.
As the final promotion before the film's release, the press conference leveraged the relationship between the two distributors, Wanda Media and Light Media, and invited nearly 100 media outlets from all over the country to attend.
Because it was not a premiere but a movie press conference, no stars were invited to attend.
The only people present at the scene were the creative team of "The Monkey King: Hero is Back", the organizers of the distribution company, and various media in the audience.
At 2 p.m., the lights in the conference room dimmed, leaving only the lights on the stage in front still on.
As the nominal producer of the film, Gu Wei took the stage together with director Tian Xiaopeng and Wang Changtian of Guangguang, the representative of the film's investor and distributor.
The host of the press conference was Liu Yan from Light Media. She wore a blue and white cheongsam today, showing off her good figure to the fullest.
After a beautiful welcome speech, the host announced that the premiere press conference of the movie "Journey to the West: Hero is Back" officially began.
The host briefly introduced the basic information of the film's investors, producers, and distributors, and then handed the microphone to director Tian Xiaopeng who was standing in the center of the stage.
He is the protagonist of today's true life.
"Hello everyone from the media, my name is Tian Xiaopeng, and I'm the director of the film Journey to the West: Hero is Back.
Thank you all very much for coming today. To be honest, it feels like a dream to me that "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" was successfully produced and released, and that I can stand here and talk to you all today.
I have loved science fiction and animation since I was a child. After graduating from university, I joined a foreign animation design company.
In 1997, my company received the commission to produce some episodes of the animated series Journey to the West. I was responsible for 4 episodes. When I was producing the animation according to the requirements, I thought to myself that if I were to shoot Journey to the West myself, I would definitely not make it so childish.
Later I started my own company. In 2007, I saw my son watching Ultraman and Batman at home with great interest. I suddenly felt that I should do something, so I came up with the idea of making a 3D animated version of "Journey to the West".
At that time, I was thinking, if Americans and Japanese can make good animated films, why can't we Chinese?
Now that I thought of it, I started to act immediately.
The construction of "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" started from that time.
Unfortunately, I was too naive at the time and ignored the huge cost of truly producing an animated film that could rival Hollywood Disney.
I emptied my family's money and borrowed money from relatives and friends to make the film, but unfortunately, this was still a drop in the bucket for the production of the entire animated film.
Moreover, the market at that time was not optimistic about domestic animation. Everyone believed that domestic animation content was childish and shoddy. There was also the precedent of "The Ring of Morbius" costing 130 million yuan and having a box office of 4 million yuan. No investor was willing to pay for domestic animation.
Fortunately, I later met Mr. Wang from Enlight Media and Mr. Gu from Weiming Tianxia. They generously donated a lot of money just to make a high-quality animated film that belongs to the Chinese people. "
As he spoke, Tian Xiaopeng looked left and right at Wang Changtian and Gu Wei.
"I did not disappoint the two investors and finally completed this animated film, which took eight years to produce, at the beginning of this year.
In my heart, "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" is perfect, and I believe it will become a milestone in Chinese animated films.
Thank you everyone! "
Director Tian looked very excited, said a lot of heartfelt words, and also made a few empty remarks.
Of course, in his opinion, that was not just empty talk, "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" was indeed that excellent.
After Director Tian finished speaking, the audience burst into applause, and everyone could see that he had a deep affection for movies.
The hardships of eight years of creation cannot be explained in just a few words.
Neither Gu Wei nor Wang Changtian said anything, and the media interaction session then began.
The reporters first asked Director Tian some questions about film production, and then the media's attention turned to Gu Wei. After all, compared to the unknown Tian Xiaopeng, Gu Wei is the most famous one related to movies, and interviews about him are more likely to attract the audience's attention.
"Gu Wei, as an actor, how did you come up with the idea of investing in an animated film and even serving as its producer?"
A reporter from Sohu Media asked first.
"I also met Director Tian by chance. I was mainly impressed by his attitude towards work. In addition, I watched some of the films that had been produced at that time and was amazed. I never thought that domestic animated films could achieve such a level.
So it was a natural progression for me to invest in The Monkey King: Hero is Back and later become a producer of the film.”
"Have you ever considered that since the domestic animation market is in a downturn, your investment might be wasted?"
Gu Wei smiled and said:
“Investment is always risky, and no one can guarantee that every investment will be successful.
But I think no matter whether this investment makes a profit or a loss, we are doing the right thing and working hard for the rise of domestic animated films.
That’s enough, and the rest is up to the market and the audience.”
After he said this, the reporters did not react much. Director Tian Xiaopeng looked at Gu Wei eagerly, his eyes full of emotion.
That expression was like Yu Boya meeting Zhong Ziqi in the story of Gao Shan Liu Shui, and Gu Wei, the "financial backer" who was willing to pay without expecting anything in return, was Tian Xiaopeng's "Zhong Ziqi".
"Can I ask how much money you and Mr. Wang invested in this animated film?"
Gu Wei and Wang Changtian looked at each other and said.
"I can't disclose the specific investment share, but I can tell you that the total investment in 'The Monkey King: Hero is Back' is 100 million RMB!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the whole audience was in an uproar.
The media were whispering to each other, and no one had expected that this "cartoon" would cost so much money.
Then, the reporters asked Gu Wei and Wang Changtian some questions about the movie. Both of them had been tested by the media for a long time and answered them fluently.
After the interactive session, Director Tian Xiaopeng shared some of the difficulties encountered during the production of "The Return of the Great Sage" and brought several key staff members from his team to share their experiences.
The media present all sighed that it was not easy for him to make it.
After more than two hours, the press conference finally came to an end.
Looking at the media packing up their photography equipment and walking out one by one, Gu Wei said to Tian Xiaopeng:
"Director Tian, don't worry too much. We've done everything we can to the best of our ability. Like I said just now, the rest depends on the audience and the market."
"I also know that I could not have imagined that I could achieve this level at the beginning, and I am already very satisfied.
I’m afraid that if the box office doesn’t perform well tomorrow, I’ll let down Mr. Gu and Mr. Wang’s expectations.”
After hearing what Tian Xiaopeng said, Gu Wei laughed and patted him on the shoulder.
"Be at ease, why don't you have confidence in your own work now?
We will definitely be a box office hit!
Right, Mr. Wang?"
Wang Changtian listened to the entire conversation between the two.
He also smiled and said:
“Although I don’t have as much confidence as Mr. Gu, I also think that the quality of our film is quite good.
I also have more confidence in Mr. Gu. After all, he has been successful since I met him, and I like working with successful people."
"Haha~ Mr. Wang, you're flattering me. Let's benefit each other and make money together."
After listening to the two investors, Tian Xiaopeng's nervousness was relieved.
On February 13, "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" premiered nationwide.
Thanks to the strong support of the two distribution companies, Light Media and Wanda Films, as well as the film's early promotion, the national screening share on the first day was as high as 31%.
There were almost no famous movies released during the same period. The three comedy romance films released last week, "Surprises Along the Way", "You Love Me" and "The Inspector Calls", have shown signs of fatigue after a week of screening.
Today, together with "The Return of the Great Sage", a love movie starring Yang Gongru, "I Just Want Us to Be Together", was released.
To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" was released in February and Gu Wei paid special attention to all the movies released in February, he would have no impression of this movie at all.
This is a low-budget romance film, and it is expected to be a failure in both box office and reputation, otherwise the original time and space would not be completely unknown.
It can be said that "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" released at this time is the most popular one in the film market. Looking around, there is no one who can compete with it.
There is no need to worry about competition now. The box office performance will depend entirely on how many audiences the movie can attract to watch it.
Another chapter is too much for today, I will make up for it tomorrow, 3 chapters.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
