The first film to be released is "Drug War" directed by Benny Chan and starring Hong Kong's three middle-aged film emperors, Koo, Liu and Cheung.

This movie was later called a masterpiece, and Zha Zha Hui's famous scenes were talked about by countless people.

However, when this movie was first released, its reputation and box office were not as high as expected.

The overall story structure is okay. The actors also performed well, but the ending was a bit disappointing.

In the end, the three main actors became inexplicably invincible, as if possessed by Superman, and killed all the bad guys, but they did not achieve complete victory. They were almost wiped out and "just happened" to die together with the bad guys, which seemed a bit melodramatic and clichéd.

This kind of plot where the protagonist and the villain both die in the final battle, or only one or two characters are left, is okay once or twice, but becomes boring if it happens too often.

It just so happens that many Hong Kong directors like to shoot this way, but they often don’t have the sense of fatalism that Johnnie To’s films have. Instead, there is an indelible sense of deliberateness.

However, director Benny Chan is not without his own advantages. He is very good at shooting scenes such as gun fights and car racing, focusing on sensory stimulation, and his portrayal of brotherhood is also good. The action scenes at the end are very explosive. If you don't focus on finding plot loopholes, this movie is still worth watching.

It is rumored that the production cost of this movie is 100 million Hong Kong dollars, and the box office in mainland China is probably only about 200 to 250 million, and 30 to 50 million in Hong Kong. Action movies have some overseas box office, which is not much different from the Hong Kong box office.

There is absolutely no loss to be made, but the profit is not as high as imagined.

But for Hong Kong films today, especially those with a strong Hong Kong flavor, any project that can make money is a good one.

So we have the film series such as "Ip Man", "Overheard", and "Innocent Violence", which dig deep into projects that have already had successful experience.

"Drug War" may not have this qualification now, but when it becomes popular in the future, someone will immediately restart this IP, regardless of whether it is related to the plot or not, just to get some popularity first.

In any case, the box office of "Drug War" in its first week was 80 million, which was indeed a bad start for this year's Lunar New Year box office.

Fortunately, no one is too discouraged, because from the beginning to the end, "Drug War" has been a pioneer. Although many people are optimistic about it becoming a dark horse, no one expects it to carry the banner.

The real fierce battle for the Lunar New Year box office was in early December, when three movies were released one after another.

"No Man's Land" directed by Ning Hao and starring Xu Zheng and Huang Bo.

"The Storm", a Hong Kong crime film starring Andy Lau, Yao Dazui, Lam Ka-tung, Wu Jun and others.

and "The Four 2" starring Deng Chao, Liu Tianxian, Na Zha, and Wu Moubo.

These three movies are no pushovers, and their casts and gimmicks are worth mentioning.

"No Man's Land" is the most eye-catching film. It is the masterpiece of genius director Ning Hao. The fact that it has been under review for many years is enough to make many people keep an eye on it.

After Lost in Thailand and Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, Xu Zheng and Huang Bo have become well-known A-list stars in the film industry with considerable box office appeal, not to mention they are also known as the Iron Triangle.

If it weren't for the subject matter of "No Man's Land", this movie would have had a chance to participate in the peak battle of this Lunar New Year holiday.

It's just that the subject matter and plot are more arty, which discouraged many viewers who came for the Xu and Huang comedies. Coupled with various loopholes and censorship issues, the film is much worse than the first-tier movies. It can only wait and see if it can have a chance to become the biggest dark horse.

As for "The Four 2", to be honest, due to the foundation of the previous film, the box office will not be too bad, but the base number here is estimated to be not too high.

However, there is a change now. "Running Man" will be broadcast ahead of schedule, and the popularity of the male lead Deng Chao has soared.

And because the film also involved Blue Whale, the crew got a chance to participate in "Running Man".

Running Man got the gimmick of Liu Tianxian's first reality show participation, attracting a large number of fans of Tianxian and passers-by. And The Four 2 also got the exposure and publicity of a phenomenal variety show.

With the addition of "Running Man", no one knows how good "The Four 2" will be, but it will definitely not be worse than the first one.

In comparison, "Storm" has the least gimmicks, with only King Liu being able to show off, and Yao Dazui, who is quite popular on Weibo, is also a promotional selling point.

But they have one biggest disadvantage, which is that they were released around the same time as "Time Raiders", with only one day difference between the two.

Yao Dazui, the Weibo master, had many advantages over other crews, but when he met Wei Yang and Fan Xiaopang, the two Weibo kings, he was completely defeated and was suppressed in the related Weibo posts.

Even for "Time Raiders", it never took "The Storm" seriously from beginning to end.

In the eyes of Wei Yang and even the crew, the biggest rivals are Feng Kuazi's "Private Customization" and Cheng Long's "New Police Story 2013".

…

Beijing, backstage of a promotional event

When Feng Kuazi heard the news, he couldn't help cursing: "This kid really thinks he is the king of Shanghai. He dares to interrupt our roadshow."

The second in command of Huayi next to him shook his head: "It wasn't him. This kind of thing is too offensive. Besides, if he pinches us in Shanghai, we can counterattack in Beijing, which will hurt others and not benefit ourselves."

"Who did that?"

"I guess they are more optimistic about Time Travel, and the local theaters in Shanghai are doing it on their own, or it may be the distributor's operation."

Wang Erdangjia has many flaws, but as a senior producer, he has participated in the production and distribution of many film and television projects and has a good record, so he is naturally not an incompetent person.

Faced with the emergency, he was not as emotional as Feng Kuzi and did not vent his anger on others. Instead, he analyzed the specific situation relatively calmly.

Feng Kuzi has a high box office appeal in the Chinese-language film industry, and is even known as the king of the Lunar New Year box office. He is also the director with the highest cumulative Chinese-language Lunar New Year box office to date.

But he is not without disadvantages, that is, his film style is more northern.

It is more popular in the north, but its influence in the south is not that high, especially in Zhejiang and Shanghai areas, which are not particularly famous.

If there were no direct competitors, that would be fine. After all, it is a masterpiece directed by a famous director, and the resources from all parties would not be bad.

But there is a local story in Shanghai, which is not much less famous than Feng's, and has quite a few connections in Shanghai, so naturally they give priority to their "own movie".

By the same token, the roadshow promotion of "Time Raiders" in Beijing is definitely not as popular as "Private Tailor-made".

This is all very normal, but Feng Kuazi is used to being domineering. If someone doesn't give him face, he will immediately get angry and curse.

"Forget it. The Magic City isn't our main voting base anyway. Keeping the North stable is the most important thing."

In the past two years, Blue Whale has been rising rapidly, and its united forces and connections are not bad. Huayi cannot suppress it, so its attitude has also changed. Unless necessary, Wang Erdang does not want to have a head-on conflict with Wei Yang.

"Then I'll let this kid ride on my head?"

Feng Kuazi was quite dissatisfied. He and Wei Yang didn't have any big hatred, but there was some small old grudge.

That was last year's "Lost in Thailand" which outperformed "1942". Feng Kuzi took the lead in making a lot of complaints, which aroused a lot of public opinion, and was rebuked by Wei Yang in a neither soft nor hard way.

The most crucial thing is that Feng Kuzi boasted of his good qualifications, and there were only a few people in the entire Chinese film industry whom he took seriously. As a result, he was humiliated by a young man in his twenties, so he naturally felt unhappy.

This time he was just taking advantage of the situation to teach Wei Yang a lesson and vent his anger.

Wei Yang has such strength and status that he is also a well-known rich man on the list. His actual net worth even exceeds that of the two kings of Huayi.

But most people in the entertainment industry are afraid of Wei Yang, but Feng Kuzi is not afraid of him.

Although Wei Yang is wealthy, a large part of it comes from valuation, which is somewhat imaginary. His biggest reliance is funds and the influence of Blue Whale in the Shanghai circle.

Feng Kuazi has the support of the Beijing circle, and when he wants to make a movie, a large group of people will support him and give him money. He also has a good connection and team, so Wei Yang has no way to control him.

So although others give face to Boss Wei, Feng Kuzi is not afraid of him. Instead, because of a small grudge, he is ready to make a big move.

"How can you say that? Who can ride on the head of Director Feng? It's just a misunderstanding. I'll call him later and have a talk."

Feng Kuazi really wanted to have a fight with Wei Yang, but Huayi didn't want to break up with him, so Wang Erdang tried to stop him with some persuasion.

It’s not that Huayi is afraid, there is no need to do so. As mentioned before, Blue Whale is no longer a small company that they can suppress at will.

Read the original text at Liu#9@书/吧!

Given the size of the two companies, if a war breaks out, they will kill one thousand enemies but lose eight hundred of their own. If things go wrong, both sides will suffer losses, allowing the other company to benefit.

People go out to do business to make money, not to fight with others. It is impossible for Huayi to fight with a promising big company just to get revenge for Feng Kuzi.

Of course, Huayi is still counting money on Feng Kuazi, so they have to coax him.

Wang Erdang also wondered if he could discuss it with Wei Yang, and then everyone could come up with a solution to save face.

One of them was scolding while the other was coaxing. The other main creators of "Private Customization" were also nearby, listening with trepidation.

Except for Uncle Ge, who just heard something wrong with the conversation, so he put on headphones and played with his phone, pretending to be dead.

Needless to say, he and Feng Kuzi have been friends for decades. He also has a good relationship with Wei Yang. They had a very pleasant time working together on "To Be Famous".

At this moment, it would be inappropriate for him to say anything, so he simply pretended to be deaf and dumb and pretended he knew nothing.

He is a master at playing dumb! Others don't have his capital and confidence. The director and the boss are next to you. If you wear headphones and play with your phone, do you still want to make it? You can only listen honestly, with different thoughts in your mind.

Even though Feng Kuazi cursed and Wang Erdang also said a few harsh words when he was trying to persuade him, any normal person could tell that the two of them regarded Wei Yang as a person of the same level.

Or in some people's minds, comparing the two people with Wei Yang seems a bit like a forced attempt to touch upon something.

No matter how fake Wei Yang's wealth is, he has real assets worth tens of billions. The valuation of Blue Whale, which he owns, ranks among the top in the industry. Not to mention that he started from scratch. He is already a big shot in the Shanghai circle before he is 30 years old.

No matter how powerful Feng Kuazi is, he may not be afraid of Wei Yang, but he is just a film director after all. In the eyes of many people, there is a difference in the level between the two.

Wang Er is a well-known entertainment capital, but he has an older brother, and in terms of age and potential, he is far behind Wei Yang.

At least in the hearts of sister-in-law Lu and Bai Baihe, Wei Yang definitely has the upper hand.

Even Lu, Wei Yang's sister-in-law, who had met him several times before, still felt quite regretful.

She knew from the beginning that Wei Yang was a super diamond stock, but she didn't expect him to be so awesome.

Their circle has always been around LeTV's boss Jia, and from today's perspective, Wei Yang is not inferior to Boss Jia, and in terms of comprehensive quality + future potential, she is far better than Boss Jia.

Unfortunately, at that time, she was proud of her status and chose to give up after she sent a message to Wei Yang but was met with a cold response. If she had been more determined at the beginning, she would have persisted and won over the other party.

Nowadays, it’s not just the fifth sister Gan Wei who sits in the C position in the circle;

But it's too late to regret now. She is already a mother. No matter how confident Sister-in-law Lu is, she dare not dream of joining such a wealthy family as a remarried single mother.

However, the person with the most complicated emotions would have to be Zheng Kai next to him.

This little prince of advertising at the Shanghai Theatre Academy was the first person to know Wei Yang, and was also one of the few people who had conflicts with Wei Yang in his early years.

In fact, up to now, Wei Yang no longer took that little thing from the past to heart, and he almost forgot about Zheng Kai.

But Wei Yang forgot him, but Zheng Kai always remembered him.

When the two had a conflict, it wasn't a big deal. At most they stopped talking to each other at school.

At that time, Wei Yang was busy filming and writing scripts, and Zheng Kai was in the end of his university and was not doing well in filming, so he focused on advertising. They kept to themselves.

But with Wei Yang's rapid rise and even promotion of capital, Zheng Kai's life became difficult.

To be honest, Wei Yang at that time had not yet grown to the point of banning Zheng Kai, nor had he deliberately retaliated. He was not so petty as to be so narrow-minded.

But it must also be pointed out that Zheng Kai was just an unknown junior at that time and his ability to resist risks was extremely low.

As a newcomer who just graduated, Zheng Kai couldn't get any film and television dramas. This was a normal professional phenomenon, but he couldn't help but feel guilty and kept complaining to Wei Yang, thinking that the other party was trying to trip him up.

Many people in Shanghai Theatre Academy knew about the conflict between the two, so he was not the only one who thought too much about it.

The circle is so small, and there are so many people involved in the show, so the truth was soon revealed.

Therefore, Zheng Kai's situation became even more difficult. As a newcomer, he had few bargaining chips to begin with, and now he had offended someone. People were either trying to please Wei Yang or didn't want to cause trouble, so he was able to get fewer and fewer roles and even commercials.

Wei Yang was not unaware of this rumor, but he might not take the initiative to retaliate, but he was also too lazy to help his enemy.

The greatest kindness is not to add fuel to the fire. I just explained it to a few close people, and it doesn’t matter whether others believe it or not.

As Wei Yang's influence in Shanghai grew, Zheng Kai had no chance to make it, so he headed for Beijing. He was lucky and soon got a chance to show his face, and successfully signed a contract with Huayi.

Now, after years of hard work, he finally got the biggest resource so far, starring in Feng Kuzi's movie "Private Customization".

Zheng Kai was once very proud of himself, and even thought about going back to Wei Yang one day and telling him that he was back.

However, today's cold reality told him that not only him, but even Feng Kuazi, whom he looked up to, was actually far from Wei Yang.

I'm afraid he will have to live under the shadow of that man for the rest of his life...

(End of this chapter)