Chapter 233 Recruitment Failure
After the Spring Festival holiday, workers from all over the country returned to work and continued their blessed lives, some working 996 and some 007.
The number of people in the capital increased day by day, and it soon became crowded again.
The box office of "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" also dropped from over 60 million a day to just over 30 million. This is normal. After all, everyone is at work, and only some students who haven't finished their winter vacation have time to watch a movie.
After the box office exceeded 1 billion, everyone knew that a new box office record for domestic films was about to be set.
After all, the previous record holder, Lost in Thailand, only had a box office of 1.267 billion yuan, and it was released at the end of 2012, which is more than two years ago.
In the meantime, Zhou Xingchi's "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" and Gu Wei's "Detective Chinatown 3" were close to this number at one point, but they were still a little short of breaking it.
Logically speaking, after more than two years of domestic cinema construction, the number of large screens across the country should be much greater than when "Lost in Thailand" was released.
Naturally, the new movie has a greater chance of achieving high box office success.
Unfortunately, making a movie is not like doing math problems. No matter how many cinemas are built, if the quality of the movies is not good and the audiences don’t buy into them, the box office will not be high.
Therefore, the development in China in recent years has only raised the box office ceiling of excellent films. Those that are good-looking and liked by the audience will be a big hit, and those that are not so good will still not be so good.
Many people in the industry have wondered which director's masterpiece will eventually surpass "Lost in Thailand" and become the new box office record holder.
Some guessed it was Jiang Wen. After all, the movie "Let the Bullets Fly" a few years ago was too amazing, and it achieved great success in both box office and reputation. Just like the director himself said, he made money without doing anything.
Unfortunately, this speculation was shattered after Jiang Wen’s new film "One Step Away" was released at the end of 2014.
The reputation of this movie is extremely polarized. Those who like it think it is a great movie. The two movie stars Jiang Wen and Ge You gave wonderful performances. The whole movie is full of metaphors and there are points that can be explored in depth everywhere. It is very enjoyable.
Most of the people who hate it have an attitude. What the hell is this? I don’t understand it at all. Forget it, let’s go back and read the movie reviews.
When a movie requires the audience to go back and read film reviews in order to understand it, it has completely become detached from the masses and has become a self-entertainment for a small group of people.
Audiences across the country know that Jiang Wen is talented. In "Let the Bullets Fly", he told the audience an easy-to-understand story, and after watching it, they can savor a lot of things from it, so everyone likes it.
Maybe his previous success made Jiang Wen a little arrogant. In "One Step Away", he was completely immersed in his own world. He only expressed himself, regardless of whether the audience could understand him or not. He was a bit casual and selfish, and it was difficult for the audience to resonate with him.
In the end, the movie grossed 500 million yuan at the box office, which is considered a big hit in the eyes of most directors, but that was Jiang Wen. His previous movie "Let the Bullets Fly" grossed 670 million yuan, and audiences across the country were looking forward to his next work. This result was considered a failure.
Some people also think it will be Zhou Xingchi. After all, last year's "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" had a box office of 1.25 billion, which was only more than 10 million away from breaking the record.
Others think it might be veteran and famous directors such as Feng Xiaogang and Zhang Yimou, one of whom is the box office champion of domestic comedy films, and the other is the pioneer of domestic blockbusters.
But no one expected that the record would be broken by an animated film, directed by a completely unknown person.
Before the release of "The Monkey King: Hero is Back", no one in the film and television industry knew Tian Xiaopeng.
This situation was beyond everyone's expectations. In just 13 days, the box office of "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" broke 1 billion like cutting melons and vegetables.
Although the Spring Festival period has ended and the single-day box office of the movie has dropped, there are still nearly three weeks before the release date. Everyone is waiting to see how the final box office results will be.
The huge box office success of "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" also had another impact, which was to drive the development of the animation film industry.
The first people to try something new are few and courageous, but there are too many people who follow suit after seeing others succeed.
Gu Wei has a partner, Light Media, which is planning to invest in this, and many other film and television companies also intend to develop in this area.
In the past few days, there was good news in the company.
After two months of editing and post-production, [Love O2O] was finally completed.
After watching several episodes of the film in the screening room, Gu Wei was very satisfied. The plot was not much different from the original, but the final effect was much better.
Needless to say, as for the actor, Gu Wei easily surpasses Yang Yang in terms of appearance. He appeared in the same frame with Yang Yang when acting in "Left Ear". When the two of them stood together, it could only be said that they were a bit bullying Teacher Yang Yang.
Not to mention Nazha, the gap between her and Shuangzi in beauty is not too big, and with the guidance of Zhang Songwen in acting, she is also very good, and she is online throughout the whole process, not much inferior to the original.
Because Gu Wei provided generous funding, the costumes of the various characters in the TV series, the scene settings, and the graphics of some games were all done very well.
You can tell it's well-made at first glance.
There was a small episode during the post-production. Director Lin Yufen found Gu Wei when he was composing the soundtrack for the TV series and wanted him to write a theme song for the film. After all, Gu Wei's talent in music is obvious to all, and it is normal for him to compose a song for his own film.
Gu Wei agreed verbally and turned around to ask the company to find Wang Sulong. It was he who wrote the original theme song of [Love O2O] [A Smile is Alluring]. Gu Wei felt that the original music was perfect and there was no need to go through the trouble of composing another one.
His current idea is to use money to solve things that can be solved with money as much as possible, and to lie down as much as possible.
"Director Lin, thank you for your hard work over the past two months."
In Gu Wei's office, Director Lin Yufen was sitting on the reception sofa with the Longjing tea brewed by Gu Wei in front of her.
"Mr. Gu, you're too serious. This is all for work, and this is what I should do as a director."
Lin Yufen said with a smile, picked up the steaming teacup in front of him and took a sip slowly.
"I've been filming for so long and have worked with many directors. In my opinion, Director Lin, you are definitely a master in idol dramas. Whether it's your control over the plot or your portrayal of the male and female protagonists, you are unique."
"Mr. Gu, you are too kind~"
"I wonder what work Director Lin has planned next?"
Gu Wei sat opposite and asked seemingly nonchalantly.
Lin Yufen hesitated for a moment.
"Director Li Guoli of Sugar Man approached me. His company is planning to make a TV series based on the story of Liao Zhai and wants me to be the chief director."
"[Sugar Man] Ah, I remember that last year's [Wu Xin: The Monster Killer] was directed by you, Director Lin. It was also a very good film."
"I am friends with Li Guoli, and initially I collaborated more with Sugar Man."
After chatting for a while, Lin Yufen stood up and said goodbye.
Gu Wei originally wanted to invite Lin Yufen to his company as a contracted director. Over the years, he has accumulated a lot of IPs, and they will inevitably have to be adapted into film and television. He lacks a director like Lin Yufen who has both ability and works.
Unfortunately, Director Lin was not there. Gu Wei expressed his intention to recruit her twice, but she politely refused.
Come to think of it, Lin Yufen is a director from Hong Kong. She initially filmed a lot of TV series for "Sugar Man" and last year she was hired by "Ciwen Film and Television" to film "The Journey of Flower". If the timeline remains unchanged, she will later accept invitations from "Huace" and "Jaywalk" to film "Eternal Love".
It can be said that they maintain good relations with these big companies in the TV drama circle and do not lean towards any side, so it is normal to reject Gu Wei now.
After Director Lin left, Gu Wei called Zhao Mingcheng in.
He is still the producer of the TV series [Love O2O].
"Director Lin will give her a big red envelope in addition to the normal remuneration in the contract.
Just saying that this is our first collaboration, I want to express my gratitude for her hard work!"
Zhao Mingcheng understood Gu Wei's meaning as soon as he heard it.
In the circle, it is very normal for film and television companies to win over these famous directors.
(End of this chapter)
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