When they opened the door to welcome guests, Chu Xuan and Chenglong gave them a big bear hug.
"Xuanzi, happy new year."
Chenglong still spoke in his half-Hong Kong tone, and habitually patted Chu Xuan's back a few times with a little force.
"Brother, can you please be gentle?" Chu Xuan pretended to be bitter.
Chenglong let go of Chu Xuan, looked at him and said, "See if you have neglected to exercise."
"No way." Chu Xuan shook his head: "I'm thinking about cooperating with my eldest brother to make a movie, but I'm afraid that things will fall apart when the time comes. Liu Yifei and I have not missed out on our daily exercise."
Liu Yifei showed off her beauty and she and Liu Xiaoli accepted the gifts from CEOs Chenglong, Tang Jili and Yinghuang.
Chenglong smiled brightly, hammered Chu Xuan's chest a few times, and nodded to Liu Yifei: "Even if you don't want to make a movie with me, you young people should continue to exercise. Life lies in exercise."
Chu Xuan nodded repeatedly and greeted Wang Jinhua, Tang Jili and CEO Yinghuang.
"Director Tang, happy New Year."
"Mr. Du, happy New Year."
"Mr. Wang, Mr. Chu, Ms. Liu, Ms. Liu, happy New Year." Mr. Du, the vice chairman of Yinghuang, said warmly: "Mr. Chu, I'm sorry that you came to visit during the Chinese New Year."
"Where." Chu Xuan shook his head: "Mr. Du is too polite. Your coming here will add a light to my family."
After exchanging pleasantries, Chu Xuan stretched out his hand in the direction of the small villa: "Please."
The family led the way carrying large and small packages of gifts brought by the three of them, followed by Chenglong, Tang Jili and Mr. Du.
If only Chenglong and Tang Jili came over, Wang Jinhua was prepared to entertain them in her villa.
But I never thought that Mr. Du from Yinghuang Entertainment would also come over, so it would be more appropriate to entertain guests here at Chu Xuan.
Using a 2,000-square-meter garden villa to entertain guests will look a bit grand and respectable no matter what.
"Brother, is the filming going well?" Chu Xuan asked as he walked on the way to the small villa.
"It's okay." Chenglong nodded slightly: "This movie is quite creative."
Quite a big idea? Chu Xuan laughed in his heart.
Chenglong's words sounded ordinary, but to Chu Xuan's ears, they had a different flavor.
What "The King of Kung Fu" is about doesn't have much impression in his memory.
He only roughly knew that the background of the story was Journey to the West, which was a household name in China.
It would be fine if it was just Journey to the West as the background of the story, but he vaguely remembered that the character running through the main line of the story seemed to be a foreigner.
In a movie based on my country's deep-rooted traditional mythology, a foreigner plays the leading role.
This is equivalent to letting Chinese people be the protagonists in a movie about the universe of Western gods.
This is a bit awkward no matter how you think about it.
When the movie is released, he doesn't know how it will fare abroad, but at home he guesses it will still be the same as he remembers, with a high probability that it will hit the streets.
Chenglong, as an international superstar who vigorously promotes Chinese culture around the world, has been engaged in this patriotic career for decades. Almost all movies have Chinese elements, so Chenglong must have a thorough understanding of our country's traditional culture.
of.
Chu Xuan believes that when Chenglong received the contract for the drama "The King of Kung Fu", he could see the problem as soon as he read the script.
Since Chenglong can see the problems in the script, he is still willing to continue participating.
According to Chu Xuan's guess, there should be three reasons.
First, he can cooperate with Li Lianjie. Li Lianjie's appeal in Hollywood is stronger than that of Cheng Long. It is naturally beneficial for Cheng Long and Li Lianjie to cooperate.
Second, the personal relationships in Hollywood made it difficult for Chenglong to refuse this film contract.
The third is the high salary. The exact amount of the salary is not yet known, but it is definitely an eye-catching figure.
"If Bright Times had been established a few years earlier, you would have been the company Hollywood chose to cooperate with in China. It's a pity." Chenglong suddenly said.
Hearing this, Chu Xuan and Wang Jinhua smiled slightly, did not talk on this topic, and followed Liu Xiaoli into the small villa.
China has a large population and has developed rapidly in recent years. The gradual expansion of the box office market is predictable.
Based on this situation, Hollywood chose a Chinese entertainment company to cooperate. It was an attempt and a test to see what China's box office market was like.
Planning for this movie started in 2004, before Glorious Era was even established at that time.
Huayi Brothers was the undisputed number one in the industry at that time, and Hollywood capital liked the number one best, so they chose Huayi as their partner.
As Chenglong said, if we look at the current domestic entertainment industry structure, financial reserves and network resources, perhaps Hollywood companies will choose Brilliant Era.
Chu Xuan and Wang Jinhua had occasionally talked about this topic a long time ago, but they did not consider it in depth. Cooperation with Hollywood was not within the scope of the company's development plan at the time, and it was useless to think too much.
What makes Chu Xuan interesting is that in the current "The King of Kung Fu", the role originally played by Li Zhiyi in his memory was replaced by Dong Xuan, while the role of Liu Yifei was replaced by Zhang Ziyi.
Because of his existence, it triggered such a butterfly effect.
Huayi holds Hollywood resources, so it is naturally impossible for it to give them away out of kindness.
Looking at the cast list during the promotion of "The King of Kung Fu", including Brilliant Times, top entertainment companies in the industry such as Enlight Media, Beijing Film and Television Culture, Chengtian Entertainment, etc., no actors were invited to participate.
Huayi gives part of its resources to its own artists, and part of its resources to artists like Zhang Ziyi who open their own studios.
When artists open studios, many people think that it is an act of artists breaking away from capital and transforming into capital.
But the reality is that in the face of capital, it is still nothing. The resources that should be sought must still be sought, and the unspoken rules cannot be escaped.
But there is one advantage for artists to open a studio. If the artist still joins an entertainment company, then giving the artist resources is equivalent to helping the other company's development.
But when an artist leaves the company and opens his own studio, giving the artist resources is equivalent to helping the artist's studio develop.
In the face of capital, no matter how great a studio is, it still has no qualifications to compete with real capital like Huayi.
Everyone in the industry knows this. This is why Huayi gave Hollywood resources to Zhang Ziyi and several artists who opened studios.
In short, even if I give you resources, you cannot compete with me.
But if resources are given to artists owned by peers such as Bright Times or Enlight Media, and it is possible for these peers to develop into Hollywood, then the final situation will be completely different.
Huayi's behavior of eating alone shows its ambition to maintain its leading position in the domestic entertainment industry.
The rise of Bright Times in a short period of time seems to have intensified Huayi's greater ambitions.
Aiming at Hollywood?
Chu Xuan didn't care where the Huayi sword was pointing, it had nothing to do with him.
As long as the industrialization of film and television in the Brilliant Era succeeds, it will be useless even if you point your sword at the Pacific Ocean. You have to lie down when you should.
But on the matter of "The King of Kung Fu", Chu Xuan had an idea.
With Cheng Long and Li Lianjie joining the cast, you can imagine how much fans are looking forward to this movie.
But for this movie, he could predict the sluggish domestic market and the dissatisfaction of movie fans. Under such circumstances, for movie fans, how high their expectations are, how big their disappointment will be.
In this way, fans will be disappointed if a movie between him and Liu Yifei is renewed on the schedule of "Kung Fu King".
So, will the box office of his and Liu Yifei's movies increase, or even explode, with the backdrop of "The King of Kung Fu"?
As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison. If his and Liu Yifei's movies can guarantee the quality and have their high popularity, maybe this can be done in terms of schedule.
Although there is still no clue about the movie between him and Liu Yifei, "The King of Kung Fu" is still a long time away from being released, so there is room for maneuver.
As for using "The King of Kung Fu" as a stepping stone, what will Huayi and Hollywood companies think when the time comes?
It happened that he and Liu Yifei were about to officially enter the film industry, and their appeal and reputation were unknown. In order to be more stable and effective, they could take advantage of this opportunity.
"Eat!" Liu Xiaoli greeted enthusiastically.
Seeing the good wine and food on the table, everyone was a little moved and sat down happily.
"It's time to eat, what are you thinking about?" Liu Yifei took Chu Xuan's hand.
Chu Xuan came back to his senses, put his thoughts in his heart, and sat down side by side with Liu Yifei.
Chu Xuan raised his smile and raised his glass: "Brother, Director Tang, Mr. Du, welcome."
Everyone raised their wine glasses, and Chenglong said sheepishly: "It's the first time I came to your home. I didn't say a few words before we came to the table. I also prepared such a large table of good food and good wine..."
Chenglong looked at Liu Xiaoli: "Thank you for your hard work, Xiaoli. Happy New Year and everything goes well."
Everyone said a few words of blessing, then drank the wine in one gulp.
Chenglong put down his wine glass and looked at Wang Jinhua, Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei: "Last year at the awards show, I said that we would collaborate on a comedy action film, but our director Tang denied it and said that we would collaborate on a comedy action film.
Sci-fi action movies have more potential."
Tang Jili raised the corners of his mouth slightly, minding his own food.
Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei nodded slightly. Tang Jili mentioned this matter to them when they were still recording programs in the variety show park.
It is said that the two of them have experience in making science fiction, and Chenglong has full experience in action movies. Depending on the conditions of the two, the market potential may be greater.
Chenglong picked up the food with his chopsticks. At first he said he wanted to make comedy action, and returned to the field he was most familiar with. He also wanted to play the emotional card. With the couple Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei, he participated and directed the production.
A script should satisfy the audience.
But when he told his golden partner Tang Jili about this, Tang Jili gave him a slap in the face.
"In your comedy action movie, the plot has not yet reached, and the audience can guess what is going to happen next. Every move of yours is familiar to the audience. In this situation, do you expect to win back the global audience by relying on emotions?"
"Unless a miracle happens, unless Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei are international superstars like you, allowing them to attract a global audience, but unfortunately they are not."
Tang Jili's words were thought-provoking. After thinking about it for a while, he felt convinced. He had been bent on seeking change in the past few years, so why did he go back so quickly?
Really confused.
"The film and television special effects department of Brilliant Era is not to say the most advanced in the country, but it is definitely the most experienced in the field of science fiction special effects. Moreover, Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei have filmed science fiction and know what science fiction should feel like and what needs to be presented.
Such a picture.”
"Your Chenglong's action design is world-class, and science fiction is currently the most popular genre in Hollywood and even the world."
"Then combine the strengths of the two and create a science fiction action film, a genre that Chenglong has never done before. As long as the rhythm of the story and the design of the scenes meet Hollywood-style standards, then I think it is feasible."
These words in Tang Jili made Chenglong a little stunned when he heard them.
Sci-fi action?
Star Wars, Blade Runner, Resident Evil...these popular global movie series all belong to this genre.
Tang Jili is right, sci-fi action movies are indeed favored by movie fans around the world.
And this is a genre that Chenglong has never filmed before. If his fans get this news, they may be very excited about it, right?
Chenglong put his chopsticks on the bowl and raised his eyebrows to look at Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei: "Xuanzi, Qianqian, what do you think?"
Chu Xuan thought for a while while picking up the vegetables, then put the dishes into a bowl and said: "Brother, actually it doesn't matter to me and Sissy what type of movie we make. Our cooperation is considered a private customization."
"There is no script, so we can tailor it according to our respective circumstances, but before that, we have to determine the elements of the story."
"Yes." Mr. Du nodded and reached for a tissue: "I am here this time. I am entrusted by the boss to decide on the story elements first and then discuss a rough cost limit. If you and I can reach a consensus,
, then we will start preliminary cooperation and start working on the script."
The big boss he talks about is Yang Shouchen, the chairman of Yinghuang.
Mr. Du wiped the corner of his mouth with a tissue: "After the script is ready, if both parties have no objections to the script, we will finalize the actors and discuss the details. If we reach a consensus again, then we will invest in proportion, officially start cooperation, and start filming the movie."
Wang Jinhua nodded and picked up the wine glass: "In order, just do what Mr. Du said."
Mr. Du smiled, raised his glass and clinked it with Wang Jinhua.
Chenglong also picked up the wine glass and touched it with Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei: "What are your thoughts on the story elements?"
Liu Yifei took a sip of red wine and said, "Brother, I think we must first confirm whether it is more about special effects or more about story."
As soon as he finished speaking, before Chenglong could reply, Mr. Du immediately said: "It's just a story."
Everyone was startled and looked at him.
Mr. Du took some peanuts soaked in vinegar and stuffed them into his mouth, and said: "Your brilliant era will also make science fiction, right? Use the "Hope" micro-movie as a prototype to make a special effects blockbuster? I heard that the shooting cost is
Estimated to be 300 million!”
Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei listened and were not impressed by Mr. Du's knowledge of Bright Times' next plan.
I had previously gone to some entertainment companies and investment companies to attract investment, so the news slowly spread, and also spread to Yinghuang Entertainment in Xiangjiang.
"Special effects are too expensive. Our domestic film and television industry focuses on stories. Even if we want to shoot science fiction action, we still prefer stories."
Mr. Du shook his head inwardly. He was really shocked when he heard the news that Bright Times was raising 300 million yuan to shoot special effects science fiction.
Most of the movies that have been promoted for hundreds of millions or hundreds of millions, there are only two situations, either the investment is deliberately inflated as a publicity stunt, or some of the investments involve underground banks that launder money.
People in underground banks don't care whether the movie loses money or not, because before the movie is released, the money invested has already been transferred back and forth through service channels, advertisers, and publicity channels.
For example, if clothing customization requires 2 million, then the real card will be exchanged ten times among the various fake cards in the underground bank, which is 20 million, of which 18 million will be laundered, and the bank records will show that there is no problem, because the real card is operating normally.
For the company's basic account, N virtual cards represent N merchants, which is a normal business transaction.
Underground banks only need to pay the producers a certain share, which can give them a strong boost in film investment.
However, this is still illegal.
It's just that underground banks need to launder money, and producers need to invest. When everyone has their own interests, and the technology of domestic Internet finance is not yet developed, this situation is not uncommon, especially in Xiangjiang and Baodao.
many.
But Glorious Times does not take this path, but actually seeks investment. This shows that Glorious Times really needs 300 million to make movies.
This is fundamentally different from the 300 million investment situation for certain movies.
This is 300 million in real money!
But judging from the current domestic box office market, if the real cost of making a movie is 300 million, then it will be a huge loss?
Even with the help of China Film Group to allow the film to go through foreign channels and be released globally, the publicity and distribution expenses would be at least tens of millions or hundreds of millions.
Under such circumstances, how can Brilliant Era make money back? Unless the movie becomes a global hit.
But Chinese movies are a global hit?
Sorry, he doesn't believe in the reasons why Chinese movies are so popular around the world.
Bright Times must have expected such a situation, but Bright Times still wants to produce special effects blockbusters. People in the entertainment company like them can only think that Bright Times wants to take a development route that is different from all domestic companies, and in
At the beginning of development, we didn’t care about gains and losses.
He admired the courage of the Brilliant Era, but as a capital, he did not care about gains and losses. He and many people in the industry thought so, and were ready to watch the good show of the Brilliant Era.
They also didn’t know that Bright Times wanted to industrialize film and television. If they knew, they must have thought that Bright Times was fanciful.
"Having said that, I will give you an upper limit on investment, no more than 150 million." Mr. Du put his chopsticks on the table and stated his bottom line.
"150 million." Chenglong stretched his shoulders and said cheerfully: "Boss, this is a bit small."
"Less?!" Mr. Du laughed angrily and pointed at Chenglong: "Chenglong, it's really scary to invest in your movie. I'm afraid others will jump with excitement when they hear 150 million. For you, it's still too little.
"
When everyone saw this scene, they found it really interesting.
"Jinhua, what do you mean?" Chenglong looked at Wang Jinhua.
Wang Jinhua took a bite of the food and said: "For science fiction that is more about stories, 150 million is a lot."
After hearing what both families said, Chenglong gave up and said, "Okay, let's set this number for the time being, and we'll see when we start shooting."
Watch it after filming?... Mr. Du was startled. This suddenly reminded him that when he was filming "New Police Story", the original investment of 100 million was forced by Chenglong to get 120 million, and an additional 20 million was spent on it.
Blasting, just because the scene of blasting is not big enough, this is no one.
"If we reach a cooperation, I will travel abroad while you are filming, so don't come to me asking for money." He waved his hand.
Everyone was happy when they heard this. It seemed that Mr. Du was frightened by Chenglong.
"Brilliant Era has money. You go to Mr. Wang. No, Mr. Chu is also filming on the set. You go directly to Mr. Chu." He gave Chenglong advice.
Chu Xuan, Liu Yifei and Wang Jinhua looked at each other, and Mr. Du's joke made them all smile.
Chenglong shook his head, reached out to pick up the vegetables, and stopped dwelling on this topic.
"Story-oriented sci-fi action..." he mused.
"'Star Wars' and 'Resident Evil' are more special effects and don't have a strong story. 'Blade Runner' is fine and has a story," Tang Jili said.
"Blade Runner." Chenglong thought for a while: "Suspense science fiction."
Tang Jili nodded: "It's the same type as "Hope"."
"No, no, no." Chu Xuan finished the food, put down his chopsticks and said, "There is an essential difference between "Blade Runner" and "Hope"."
Everyone raised their heads and looked at Chu Xuan.
Chu Xuan said: "The suspense of "Blade Runner" lies in the story itself, while the suspense of "Hope" lies in the imagination."
"How do you say it?" Tang Jili became interested.
Chu Xuan continued: "The suspense points of the script design are different. Looking at "Blade Runner", the plot is full of suspense. Looking at "Hope", the scenes and character behaviors are full of suspense, but the story itself is not suspenseful."
"Director Tang, if you think about it objectively, after watching "Blade Runner" you will feel that the story is not simple, and the script design is very complex."
"But after watching "Hope", the story of "Hope" is too simple. It is just a straight line with no detours. It is not complicated at all. It is just an imaginative design of interlocking scenes that makes the audience feel full of suspense.
And complicated.”
Tang Ji said thoughtfully that the story of "Hope" itself is the story of a spaceship crashing and the hero and heroine trying to survive due to lack of oxygen.
Thinking about it this way, this story is indeed very simple. As Chu Xuan said, it is just a straight line and has nothing to do with complexity.
But where does the sense of suspense come from?
He recalled the scene of "Hope" and then nodded slowly. Chu Xuan was right. The design of the scene induced the audience to think that the results were all wrong, thus creating a sense of suspense. However, the story itself was very
Simple.
"So what are your thoughts on the core elements of sci-fi action?" he asked.
After all, Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei were producers, and he and Liu Yifei provided the story for "Hope" and also participated in the creation of the script.
In terms of science fiction, it is necessary for him to listen to the opinions of the young couple.
"After "Hope" was released, Sissi and I came to the conclusion through reviews that most of the audience's attention was focused on the scenes and special effects, and not on the acting skills and performance of the two of us."
"We believe this is because "Hope" is a suspenseful science fiction, not a suspenseful science fiction story. As I just said, the story of "Hope" is not suspenseful at all."
Everyone nodded and continued to listen.
Chu Xuan smoothed over his thoughts and said: "I have come to this conclusion, and the movie that Sissi and I have with Big Brother is planned to be released around the world. Big Brother has a wide international influence, but Sissi and I are newcomers, and we
If two people appear in overseas markets with Chinese faces, are you sure foreigners will like to see them?"
The problem that Chu Xuan pointed out left everyone in silence. This problem is worth thinking about and solving.
"This is indeed a problem." Tang Jili nodded repeatedly.
"So." Chu Xuan picked up the bottle and poured the wine, and said: "We will continue the script method of "Hope" and create imaginative suspense so that the audience's eyes will not focus on us, but on the scenes full of imaginative ideas.
, and the story itself.”
He poured the wine, put down the bottle, picked up the wine glass and said to Tang Jili: "Director Tang, my suggestion is a fantasy science fiction, which is mainly based on imagination, runs through the main line of the story, supplemented by action and suspense, and presents corresponding scenes.
scene."
"Science fiction..." Liu Yifei muttered and came up with several ideas: "Time travel? Future world? Aliens?"
Tang Jili smiled, clinked glasses with Chu Xuan and took a sip of wine. He put down his glass and said, "I'll go back and think about it carefully. What Xiaoxuan mentioned is very constructive. By the way, I took the time to find Liu Yi, the staff officer.
Try to come up with a story before next month."
"Okay, just as soon as possible. I'll probably finish filming in July or August. I hope I can start shooting directly after I finish filming." Chenglong nodded.
