After the time entered 2000, the first domestic movie with a box office of over 1 billion appeared, which was ten years earlier than in another time and space!
The first director to have a film with a box office of over 1 billion was Zhang Yimou. Later, Feng Tongtong, Jiang Yu, Zhou Xingchi, etc. joined the billion club one after another!
The biggest reason for this is that the Chinese people's recognition of movies is far beyond that of another time and space, and at the same time, there is an increase in domestic theater chains. This is a mutually reinforcing result.
The rise of the film market has also allowed more investors to see the potential of the film industry. All kinds of capital have entered the film market, including film and television companies, theater chains, and of course, some doing both!
Although Feng Pants and others have previously complained about the lack of professionalism of some actors, it is undeniable that the domestic film market has now become the second largest film market in the world!
This has also led to many filmmakers who have gone abroad to return to China to make films. Among them is Hong Kong director Wu Baige.
When Wu Baige first entered Hollywood, he shot several blockbuster movies and became a popular director in Hollywood. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. One "Wind Talker" almost bankrupted MGM!
From heaven to hell, Wu Baige only spent one movie.
After that, Wu Baige never got a chance to make a comeback in Hollywood. Later, he had no choice but to return to China to develop. At this time, although Xiangjiang's movies did not decline like those of later generations, it is undeniable that the focus of the movie has returned to
domestic!
Wu Baige, like most directors in Hong Kong, chose to go north to film. His experience in Hong Kong and Hollywood made it easy for Wu Baige to find investors.
After returning to China, Wu Baige first tried his hand at producing a Republic of China movie. The box office was not great, but it was not bad either.
Wu Baige then began to prepare for his ambitious work "Red Cliff"!
Without Wu Jianye's appearance, this movie should have been released this year, but because of Wu Jianye's intervention, the filming of the movie has not started yet.
The reason why many people don't understand is that after all, Wu Baige was able to re-emerge in Hong Kong only with the help of Wu Jianye, and Wu Baige was able to get the script of "A Better Tomorrow".
No one expected that when Wu Baige returned to China for filming, Wu Jianye would be the first to stand up and stop him!
This kind of thing is unknown to the outside world. Everyone is just curious that Wu Baige has been clamoring to shoot "Red Cliff" for several years, but the filming has never started. However, some big shots in the industry know that there is no such thing as Wu Jianye
Let’s face it, there is really no way to start shooting this movie!
On the second day, several directors stayed at the Dynasty Hotel again, including Wu Baige. However, to the surprise of many directors, Han Heping from China Film Group also came to Qiongdao this time!
Han Heping is now the helmsman of China Film Group, a veritable big shot in the domestic film industry, and one of the top.
His arrival naturally brought many directors to visit, but Han Heping did not meet them immediately. Instead, he took Wu Baige to find Wu Jianye.
China Film Group plans to be the first investor in Wu Baige's "Red Cliff"!
"Teacher Wu, we haven't seen each other for two years!" Han Heping sat on the sofa in the guest room with a bright smile on his face.
Han Heping, who has been in charge of the domestic film industry for many years, has become quite dignified at this time, but he still maintains his humble attitude when facing Wu Jianye.
"I remember the last time we met was when you were promoted to chairman of China Film Group Corporation!" Wu Jianye recalled for a moment and said.
Han Heping had already served as the vice chairman and deputy general manager of China Film in 1999, and officially became the helm of China Film in 2007!
Han Heping nodded and said, "That's right, I didn't thank you properly that day."
Wu Jianye waved his hands and said, "It's just polite to say this."
"Teacher Wu, the domestic film industry has been a bit monotonous without your involvement in the past few years!" Han Heping said.
"Haha, there are talents throughout the ages, and today's young people are also pretty good." Wu Jianye said with a smile: "Let's get down to business. I know what you are thinking about coming here this time. I still said the same thing, don't you want to take pictures of me?
Opinion, but I can’t guarantee what will happen next!”
Han Heping showed a wry smile. Although he was the helmsman of China Film and was considered by outsiders to be the leader in Chinese films, people at his level knew very well that if he wanted to make a difference in the Chinese film industry, Wu Jianye
Nodding, it’s impossible!
In the past, whether I was the director of Yanjing Film Studio or after joining China Film, I received great support from Wu Jianye. The cooperation between the two parties was very pleasant, but I did not expect that in the past two years, China Film's biggest project ""
"Red Cliff", there was a disagreement!
Although Wu Jianye said that he had no objection to the filming of this movie, everyone knows that Wu Jianye is very disgusted with this plan. Without Wu Jianye's support, domestic theater chains and overseas theater chains will not be able to
There is no way to release it, not to mention the high possibility that some investors will withdraw their capital.
Wu Baige's expression on the side was also a little embarrassed at this time. In the past few years, he had always hoped to meet Wu Jianye, just to talk about this matter, but Wu Jianye never gave him a chance. How about this time?
It's easy to see him, but he didn't expect Wu Jianye to not even give Han Heping face!
"Director Wu, we are really optimistic about this movie. We have found several screenwriters and revised the script more than a dozen times. We have also found actors from China, Xiangjiang, and Wanwan to star together. It must be a great one.
It will become a benchmark for domestic films!"
Although it was embarrassing, what needed to be done still had to be done, so Wu Baige still fought for it.
Wu Jianye glanced at Wu Baige and said, "I told you that you want to make this movie. I have no objection. Since you are so dedicated, then make it!"
At this time, Wu Jianye was already very disappointed with Wu Baige for telling the truth!
How could Wu Baige not hear that Wu Jianye was speaking sarcastically? He smiled bitterly and said: "Director Wu, I know that when I was in Hollywood, I didn't do well enough, but I still hope you can give me a chance!
"
After Wu Baige entered Hollywood, he actually didn't do anything to be sorry for Wu Jianye. However, with his own success, it was inevitable that he would be a little too ambitious and speak arrogantly.
Still using his reason of having his own editing rights, when Wu Baige was interviewed, he once again stated that he was one of the only directors in Hollywood who had his own editing rights, even when Wu Jianye was filming movies in Hollywood.
, and have no such right.
Subsequently, through the spread of the media, various versions emerged one after another, but the core gossip was that Wu Baige despised Wu Jianye.
This is the only place where Wu Baige can think of offending Wu Jianye!
Wu Jianye laughed and said: "You are thinking too much. I have never taken those words to heart. Whether you can have your own editing rights cannot actually be used as a reason to evaluate the director's success!"
Wu Baige's face became increasingly ugly.
Han Heping, who was watching the atmosphere, was a little embarrassed and said quickly: "Teacher Wu, didn't you once say that if you want Chinese movies to really flourish, a hundred flowers should bloom? Wu Baige is interested in bringing our country to the forefront.
It’s good that the story of the Three Kingdoms is brought to the big screen!”
Wu Jianye still smiled and said: "I didn't say it was bad!"
Han Heping: "..."
Wu Baige: "..."
In the end, Han Heping had no choice but to let Wu Baige leave Wu Jianye's room first.
"Teacher Wu, there are only two of us left now. Can you tell me the truth about why you are so disgusted with this movie?"
When there were only two people left in the room, Wu Jianye and Han Heping, Han Heping became more and more casual with you!
Wu Jianye asked back: "Have you ever noticed that when I was making movies before, I never used actors from Wanwan, and I also never participated in Wanwan's Golden Horse Awards. Have you ever thought about this reason?"
Han Heping shook his head and said: "To be honest, everyone is quite curious. I remember that when "Inception" was released, the Golden Horse Awards sent you an invitation, but you rejected it directly. Even in these years,
The movies and TV shows produced by Tang Ting Culture rarely feature actors from Wanwan."
Wu Jianye glanced at Han Heping meaningfully and said with a smile: "Then you should know why I don't agree with the movie "Red Cliff"!"
Although China Film Group is the largest investor in "Red Cliff", there are many other investors in this film, among which investors from Wanwan account for a large proportion.
Not only that, because Wu Baige will be the director of this movie, and he will also be the producer of this movie.
In other words, Wu Baige has absolute rights in this movie, and as a result, many outstanding roles in the movie were given to Wanwan artists.
As mentioned before, the ultimate goal of this movie is actually to use China's market, China's funds, and China's actors to support Wanwan's artists.
This made Wu Jianye a little unhappy. The market he had worked so hard to build had to be picked by them in the end. Wu Jianye was not so generous!
But Han Heping didn't know this.
"Teacher Wu, it's just Wanwan's capital coming in, so there's no loss to us?"
"Do you have the right to cast? I think they already took away the right to cast when they were talking to you, right?" Wu Jianye asked.
Han Heping nodded. He didn't take this to heart. In Han Heping's heart, the more important thing was the movie. As for the casting, he didn't really care.
Wu Jianye laughed and continued: "If it weren't for me, when this movie was being prepared, the publicity method would have been to have Zhou Runfa operated on, right?"
Han Heping smiled awkwardly.
When preparations for this movie first started, as the largest production at the time, it naturally attracted a lot of media attention, and the choice of actors was the most attention-grabbing.
At the very beginning, the investors of "Red Cliff" wanted Wu Baige to come forward, invite Zhou Runfa, and use the appeal of the golden pairing of Wu Baige and Zhou Runfa to make the movie popular first.
But in fact, their target was not Chow Run-fa at all. According to their plan, after taking advantage of Chow Run-fa's fame to make this movie a hit, they immediately announced that there was no way to cooperate with Chow Run-fa, and they even thought of the reasons. Then
It's just that Chow Yun-fat's salary was too high.
It can be said that they schemed Zhou Runfa to the core, and then brought in Tony Leung Chaowei, who looked about the same grade as Model Lin, to save the situation.
The topic of this movie has already been discussed in the early stage!
In fact, they had no intention of using Zhou Runfa from the beginning to the end.
When they contacted Zhou Runfa at that time, Wu Jianye called Zhou Runfa directly and asked him to refuse the invitation. At the same time, he also said it at this time, making it impossible to continue the production of the movie "Red Cliff"!
"Teacher Wu, what do you mean?"
Wu Jianye thought for a moment and said: "We must use our own actors, forget about the ones from Wanwan!"
"What about Wanwan's capital?" Han Heping asked quickly. What he was afraid of was that there would be no chance of relaxation. Now that he has this opportunity, everything else is easy to talk about!
Wu Jianye said: "They want to invest, we won't stop them, but don't have those messy ideas!"
Han Heping said: "That's no problem, I will handle this matter!"
After Wu Jianye warned Han Heping again, Han Heping also left Wu Jianye's room.
Han Heping still likes the story of the Three Kingdoms very much. Now that someone wants to film it, he is naturally very happy. Now China Film Group is the largest investor, so he doesn't think there is any difficulty in this matter.
It was a pity that when he talked about this matter with Wu Baige, Wu Baige directly rejected the suggestion.
"How is this possible, Mr. Han? We have already negotiated with the investors over there. Now we are changing the main cast without authorization. There is no way to explain to them!"
At this time, Han Heping lost the tone he used when discussing with Wu Jianye before, and said directly: "If they don't want to, you can let them withdraw directly. The most important thing in China is film investors!"
Wu Baige objected: "No, I have already promised the other party on this matter that actors from Wanwan must be used. This is something that cannot be changed. Otherwise, I will also withdraw from the crew of "Red Cliff" and my script will not be authorized."
For your use!"
Han Heping glanced at Wu Baige and said, "Okay!"
Wu Baige was stunned. He didn't expect Han Heping to be so straightforward. To be honest, he never thought about quitting this story. After all, this was his chance to make a comeback. The reason why he just said that was just to increase the pressure on Han Heping!
"Mr. Han..."
"Director Wu, it seems that we have no chance of cooperating!" Han Heping said directly.
Wu Baige sat there, not knowing what to say. He never thought that he would have such a result.
The reason for insisting on using actors from Wanwan is because after Wu Baige was defeated in Hong Kong, it was the market in Wanwan that gave him a chance to survive. At the same time, several of Wu Baige's subsequent movies were also very successful in Wanwan. For Wu Baige,
For Bai Ge, Wanwan is more like the place where he made his fortune, so he also hopes to use his influence to drive artists in Wanwan.
But I didn’t expect that not only was it unsuccessful, but I was also involved in it!
"Mr. Han, you have to think clearly. If it weren't for me, no one else would be able to film this story!" Wu Baige made his final insistence.
Han Heping said seriously: "Without your persistence, this movie would have been even more impossible to make!"
If Wu Jianye didn't relent, there would be absolutely no chance for this movie to be filmed in China...