Chapter 413 You Don’t Have to Compare with Him
In early August, when the box office of "Detective Chinatown 2" was soaring, other movies were also released one after another.
The big IP "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" starring Lu Han, Jing Boran and Ma Sichun premiered nationwide on Friday, August 5th.
Also released on the same day are the youth romance film "Summer Is Coming" starring Lu Han's former teammate and one of the "Four Returnees" Li Jiaheng, and the romantic comedy "My Best Friend's Wedding" starring Shu Qi, Feng Shaofeng and Song Qian.
Among these three movies, except for "My Best Friend's Wedding" which is slightly less popular, "The Lost Tomb" and "Summer Is Coming" were promoted very vigorously before their release, and eventually attracted the attention of many viewers.
[The Lost Tomb] has its own traffic. The original author, Nanpai Sanshu, personally served as the screenwriter, and two popular young actors, Lu Han and Jing Boran, joined in. It can be said to be the most eye-catching new movie released in August.
In the film industry, adapting a big IP into a film or TV series is often a difficult problem. It is definitely not possible to keep it exactly as it is. There are certain differences between novels and movies. There will definitely be changes when text is turned into pictures. Moreover, if there is no change to the original work, the audience will feel that there is no novelty.
Of course, excessive changes are even more undesirable. Some directors and screenwriters want to use big IP novels to attract traffic, but also want to have their own ideas. They don’t want the story to be trapped in the original novel, so they make random changes.
In the end, he was inevitably scolded by the audience.
The "Nine-story Demon Tower" filmed by Lu Chuan before is the best example. It is called the most typical one by netizens. She wants to be a whore and also want to be a saint!
He wants the traffic of "Ghost Blows Out the Light", but also wants to make his own film, and wants people to think that the movie's success is all thanks to Director Lu.
Final defeat is inevitable.
"Grave Robbers' Chronicles" learned from the lessons of "Nine-story Demon Tower" and simply invited the original author, Nanpai Sanshu, to be the screenwriter. This way, no matter how the changes were made, they would be the original author's ideas, and the audience would have no reason to criticize.
Before the movie was released, the producers released character posters, with the poster of "Wu Xie" played by Lu Han ranked first and the poster of "Zhang Qiling" played by Jing Boran ranked last.
In the press releases, Lu Han's name was always ranked before Jing Boran's, which caused dissatisfaction from Jing Boran's agent Zhang Axin. He accused Lu Han's team and the film's producers on his personal Weibo, started tearing each other apart, and then deleted it in seconds. However, the fans of the two artists refused to give up, and the war continued to burn.
This kind of battle for ranking is not uncommon in the current film and television industry. After all, the so-called "ranking" is really important to celebrity artists.
Take filming as an example. Whoever is the number one star is the main force in the box office. If the movie is a big hit when it is released, there is no doubt that both the audience and the capital will think that it is the credit of the number one star.
This involves the choice of brands, TV stations, film and television resources, etc., which will directly affect the artist's value and pay.
So if we can get something, no one will give in.
The tug-of-war between the fans of the two stars has made "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" even more popular. No matter what the final result of the dispute is, the film's producer will be the winner.
In the first three days of its release, "The Lost Tomb" still won a box office of 478 million yuan despite the dominance of "Detective Chinatown 2".
Although the movie's reputation is average, thanks to the popularity of Lu Han and the fame of the original novel, "The Lost Tomb" has become a summer hit second only to "Detective Chinatown 2".
The producer [LeTV Media] even boasted at one point that it was “aiming for 2 billion”!
The equally popular "Summer Is Coming" was not so lucky, with only 89.5 million in box office revenue in the first three days, a far cry from "The Lost Tomb."
Originally, because these two movies were released on the same day and the protagonists were former teammates and now top stars in the domestic entertainment industry, the topic was very hotly discussed. Investors, netizens, and fans were all waiting to see who would win or lose between them.
After its first week of release, it’s clear that Lu Han has won a resounding victory.
"Bang!"
A half-drunk bottle of mineral water was thrown hard to the ground. The plastic bottle was intact, but the cap was broken open and the water inside splashed all over the floor.
Li Jiaheng stood up angrily and paced back and forth in the room. His originally handsome face looked a little ferocious because of anger.
"These media outlets are so damned stupid, saying I'm not as good as Lu Han?
Damn it, I already disliked him when we were in Korea, and now that he’s back in China, he’s always against me.”
Li Jiaheng felt that he had been unlucky recently.
Two months ago, someone broke the news online that he had sex with fans, saying that Li Jiaheng selected many beautiful women to attend the "after party" after the concert, and his agent would screen beauties for him in the name of selecting MV heroines.
Although the whistleblower did not have any substantial evidence, his image was still greatly damaged.
Because of his foreign nationality, netizens jokingly call him the "Maple Leaf Cannon King"!
Now his movie is facing competition from his old teammate Lu Han, and the most unfortunate thing is that he lost badly!
What the media and netizens like to do most at this time is to kick someone when they are down and belittle Li Jiaheng in various ways, especially always comparing him with Lu Han, which makes him very angry.
Just as Li Jiaheng was pacing back and forth cursing, his agent Huang Bin pushed the door and walked into the room.
He looked at the mineral water bottle that flew far away and the puddle of water on the ground and frowned.
"I think you should learn to control your emotions. It will be beneficial to your future career."
Seeing Huang Bin say this, Li Jiaheng did not dare to refute.
Although he is arrogant, he has a basic intelligence and knows that his agent is the one who can help him develop his career and solve his problems.
After he came back from South Korea, he only had fame but no connections in the domestic entertainment industry. All subsequent resources were found for him by his agent.
Although he is now known as a top star, he is not without competitors. At least his three old teammates will be his opponents in the future.
Moreover, in the domestic entertainment industry, Gu Wei, a top-tier star, stands firmly at the top of the pyramid, firmly controlling some top resources, and there are many young traffic stars below him who are growing rapidly.
People like Jing Boran, who worked with Lu Han on "The Lost Tomb", and Yang Yang and Li Yifeng, the two leading actors in the web drama version of "The Lost Tomb" launched last year, are all rising stars among male traffic stars.
Li Jiaheng felt more and more that his position as a top star was unstable.
"Brother Huang, haven't you seen how awful things those online media and netizens are saying? I was just angry for a moment!"
Huang Bin bent down, picked up the mineral water bottle on the ground and threw it into the trash can on the side.
"You don't need to care about what netizens say. You can't just look at the surface of things.
Your movie did not compare to Lu Han this time, but did you really fail?
With a big IP like "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" and an investment of nearly 200 million yuan and the support of top stars, it is normal that it is now selling well at the box office.
Your "Summer Is Coming" is just a low-budget love movie. Although its box office is far behind others, did you lose money on this movie?
No, not only did we not lose money, we even made money."
As he spoke, Huang Bin took a few steps closer and patted Li Jiaheng on the shoulder.
“There’s no need to compare yourself with others, as long as the movies you act in make money, you’re successful.
Everything else is secondary.”
Li Jiaheng, who had already sat back on the sofa, looked much more relaxed. His agent's consolation was still very useful to him.
"I understand, but I really can't accept losing to Lu Han."
Huang Bin smiled.
“This is not your problem, it’s the subject matter of the film and the cost of production.
Don’t forget you still have Zhou Xingchi’s ‘Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back’. Apart from anything else, it’s easy to surpass Lu Han’s current ‘Grave Robbers’ at the box office.”
Li Jiaheng's mood improved when he mentioned this movie.
With "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" and "The Mermaid", Zhou Xingchi's movies during this period are guaranteed to be big hits.
He was able to become the leading male role in "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back". Now thinking about it, he should thank Gu Wei for not accepting the offer, which allowed him to have a taste of this extremely delicious pie.
The movie had already been completed, and he had been looking forward to its release, waiting for his fame and popularity to soar again after its release.
Thinking of this, Li Jiaheng frowned slightly.
"Brother Huang, do you think Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back will be able to surpass Gu Wei's currently popular film Detective Chinatown 2 after its release?"
"Well, you'd better not be too ambitious.
It is generally believed in the industry that "Detective Chinatown 2" will have no problem surpassing "The Mermaid" in final performance and will become the new box office champion in China.
As for whether "The Monkey King 2" can break the record again, no one can say for sure.
But even if [Detective Chinatown 2] wins in the end, it will be Zhou Xingchi who defeats Gu Wei, and it has little to do with you.
There's no point comparing yourself to Gu Wei right now. You should focus on your teammates, especially Lu Han, as he's your closest competitor in the entertainment industry."
Huang Bin's words were somewhat blunt.
More than a year ago, he encouraged Li Jiaheng, saying that there might be hope of surpassing Gu Wei in the future. Now he simply told him not to compare anymore.
It's not that he is attacking his own artist, it's just that the gap between Gu Wei and Li Jiaheng is too big now. Whether it's in terms of works, identity, fame, or popularity, Gu Wei crushes him in every aspect and there is no way for him to catch up.
The movie "The Richest Man in Xihong City" produced by his company has a box office of over 2 billion yuan, and the movie "Detective Chinatown 2" directed and acted by himself is about to exceed 3 billion yuan.
How can we catch up with this, and how can we compare with it?
After hearing what Huang Bin said, Li Jiaheng frowned and sighed.
"I understand what you mean, I will try my best~
However, the live-action CG fantasy film I star in will be released during the National Day holiday at the end of next month. I heard that a police and gangster film co-produced by Gu Wei and Bona Film Group has also been selected for the National Day holiday. Whether we like it or not, there will be competition and comparisons.
Huang Bin touched his chin.
"Guo Xiaosi's movie has the fans of his book as a guarantee. You and the female lead, Fan Bingbing, also have your own fans. As usual, as long as the movie doesn't lose money, everything else will depend on the situation."
(End of this chapter)
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