Li Qian's decision to film in the Demonic City not only aroused great expectations among movie fans, but also made the industry surprised by his idea.
Huayang Media, even Huang Zhonglei, who was very unhappy with Li Qian, had to admire Li Qian's imagination.
"It's good to be young. Only young people can have such good ideas. Even I feel that the themes of these older generation directors, including Ma Xiaogang, have nothing new." Huang Zhongjun sighed.
Even if Zhang Yimou's new film is a romance film, the original work "Love in the Hawthorn Tree" is a pure love story. Even though it is very good, it is not very creative.
Li Qian's several blockbuster movies, including "Cohabitation in Time and Space" and "127 Hours" produced by him, basically have one thing in common, that is, they are genres that have never been seen before in China.
That is to say, "Perfect World" does not win with creativity. Other "Moon", "Frequency of Life and Death", including the previous Internet drama "Sniper Phone Booth", are all creative movies.
These movies are incompatible with current domestic movies and are completely different styles.
This time "I Am Legend" is not only an unprecedented post-apocalyptic blockbuster in China, but it was also filmed in a magical city, turning a bustling metropolis into a desert. This alone is enough to attract audiences.
It can be said that as long as Li Qian maintains his own level, "I Am Legend" will definitely be a box office hit.
Han Sanping had previously told him that Li Qian's film would be released during the Lunar New Year holiday. He said that this year's Lunar New Year holiday should not be crowded together, and that they would sit down and have a good talk, staggering the time and striving for a win-win situation.
Huang Zhongjun, who originally had absolute confidence in "If You Are the One 2", is now a little unsure. After all, Li Qian, whose three films have sold 700 million yuan, has a reputation among the audience that is no worse than Ma Xiaogang.
From a genre perspective, "I Am Legend" is a post-apocalyptic science fiction blockbuster. It looks better than "If You Are the One 2" in terms of investment, subject matter, and gimmicks.
It seems that we really need to have a good talk when the time comes, and don't let them go together.
However, the emergence of Li Qian, the discovery of several new directors, and the success of his movies also made Huang Zhongjun realize the importance of fresh blood.
Li Qian was able to discover Qi Yukun, Guo Fan, Yang Qing, Su Lun, Xu Zheng and several other newcomers, which others could not do.
At the beginning of the year, Huang Zhongjun launched Plan H, which not only attracted several veteran directors, such as Xu Ke and Yu Yantai.
Xu Ke's new film "Detective Dee: The Empire of Heaven" is part of Project H. Yu Yantai, who has previously filmed "Fearless", will film "General of the Yang Family", a touching story of protecting the family and the country.
Last year's "Love in the City," which grossed over 100 million at the box office, is also going to have a sequel, "Love Around the World," which skips the whole country and goes directly to the world.
There are also some new directors like Niu Chengze and Lin Shuyu.
"Zhong Lei, please pay close attention to these films. Let's also learn from Li Qian and let Ma Xiaogang take the title of producer. If one of these new directors can be a hit, it will be considered a success.
"
Li Qian is famous, and Ma Xiaogang is even more famous. If Li Qian can be a producer, Ma Xiaogang can do the same.
It is not required to produce several hit directors in a year. As long as you have one, or even one that can be discovered in two years, you will make a lot of money.
"Don't worry, brother, I will pay attention to the films of the newcomers." Huang Zhonglei nodded and said, "Brother, when I played with Teng Huatao two days ago, I heard that he seemed to have the idea of making a movie. Look,
?”
"He wants to make a movie? What kind of movie? Didn't "The Age of Naked Wedding" just finished filming?"
Huang Zhongjun frowned. Teng Huatao is different from other new directors. As the director who produced the phenomenal TV series "Snail House" last year, he is a trump card in Huayang's TV series business!
Making TV series is less risky and more profitable than making movies.
"I didn't say anything, I just listened to his wishes and had that idea."
"If you want to make a movie, let him make it. It doesn't matter if it's a small-budget movie with a budget of two to three million." After thinking about it, Huang Zhongjun still didn't stop Teng Huatao from making a movie.
Which director doesn't want to make movies? Movie directors and TV series directors are on two different levels. Teng Huatao has made a phenomenal hit TV series at a young age. It's normal to have this idea.
If it succeeds, that would be great. A director who can sell box office can create a lot of wealth as a TV drama director.
It doesn't matter if he loses everything, it's only two to three million. Huang Zhongjun still doesn't mind this small amount of money, it just makes him calm down and come back to film TV series.
However, if Huang Zhongjun were to make a blockbuster movie out of nowhere, it would be impossible for Teng Huatao to lose tens of millions even if Huang Zhongjun was killed.
...
"I Am Legend" was not a hit yet, but it was more popular online than any other movie currently in theaters, and it also allowed other companies to see the film's potential.
What's more, Li Qianke revealed at the press conference that the cost of the movie exceeded 100 million.
The production cost is 80 million, and the publicity is 40 million. If you say 100 million, it is too low. If you are more serious, you can claim 200 million.
No one doubts that there is water in this 100 million. After all, it is a post-apocalyptic science fiction blockbuster.
Blockbusters are naturally attractive to audiences, not to mention Li Qian's films, the subject matter is so attractive.
Not to mention that during last December’s Lunar New Year, four blockbusters were beaten down by “A Perfect World”. No one wants to meet Li Qian again during this year’s Lunar New Year.
Ying Huang, the investor of "Let the Bullets Fly", the new picture of "The Love of the Hawthorn Tree", Bernard of "Laughing in the River", and the Moying Group, which also invested in "I Am Legend" and "The Orphan of Zhao"
, they were all waiting for Han Sanping to greet them before, sit down and discuss the schedule, and don’t go together.
Only those who lack confidence will worry about the schedule. Li Qian never thought about the schedule issue from the beginning to the end. He will just show up at the best time, no matter how many movies he has released.
The self-confidence of a strong man, there is no need to pick an opponent, because they are all the same
After the launch conference, filming did not start in the afternoon and there was no way to film.
After the press conference, the crew went back to the hotel to eat and rest. At one o'clock in the morning the next day, they got up and arrived at the Oriental Pearl TV Tower early.
It was still pitch black, and even the hardworking office workers, except those who worked the night shift, were all asleep at this time.
However, at this time, the surrounding area of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower was already brightly lit. The crew's multiple generator cars not only provided the lighting needed for filming, but now also lit up high-power light bulbs to provide lighting for the more than 300 crew members who were busy.
.
"Quick, it must be ready before four o'clock, and everything is arranged according to the predetermined design."
Li Qian held a big loudspeaker and urged over and over again.
Before filming even started, we entered a state of emergency.
Don't rush, time is limited.
Prop cars wrapped in blue screens are placed in predetermined locations. In post-production, they will turn into scrapped cars of various types, including private cars, trucks, and tanks.
There are a lot of scrapped family cars that are real, but they have to be moved after shooting in the morning, and then have to drag them back and forth tomorrow to shoot, which is too troublesome, so we just use CG. Anyway, the special effects of cars cannot be simpler, and they still don’t move, even if
It is not difficult for domestic special effects companies.
Dozens of employees are also checking the surrounding buildings where the camera will enter to prevent anything from getting through.
The 24-hour traffic light at the intersection has also been turned off.
The executive director, director of photography, art director, and special effects director were all busy directing the crew, and Li Qian came to Liu Ye.
Yuan Quan also came with Zhang Zifeng. Although they didn't have any scenes today, they still came to the scene on the first day of filming.
"Brother Ye, Sister Yuan Quan, during this time in the Magic City, we are probably going to have to stay like this day and night, but in fact, we are not particularly busy. You keep in good condition. You two actors are the only ones on the crew. Your state also determines the crew.
status."
"Don't worry, Director Li. I took a look at the schedule and found that we basically only shoot for a few hours every day. It's mainly a matter of day and night. We'll be fine." Liu Ye said immediately.
Although the crew arrived at one o'clock in the morning, it took a long time to prepare. The actual filming today will not take more than four hours. After that, we rushed to the Magic City Film and Television Park in Songjiang District, which is also a relatively large film and television base in China.
The studio there shoots some indoor scenes, and the work ends at three in the afternoon, which is enough for eight hours of sleep a day.
Having eight hours of sleep is already the best treatment. Even though Yuan Quan has no role, she still insists on coming to the set every day.
She said, "This is an apocalyptic movie, and I want to come to the set to experience the loneliness and desolation of the apocalypse."
On the other hand, Zhang Zifeng was unhappy. He pursed his lips and looked up at Li Qian, "Uncle Li, there are obviously three actors, don't I count?"
This cute little girl is quite brave. After chatting for a while on the day of the audition, she didn’t recognize her at all.
Liu Ye and Yuan Quan couldn't help but laugh. They were both in their thirties. Ordinary people would have families at this age, and they had no resistance to beautiful and cute children.
Especially Liu Ye, whose wife is pregnant, the more he looks at the cute and well-behaved Zhang Zifeng, the more he likes her, and even thinks about what his child will look like when he is born.
He smiled and said, "Director Li, you can't discriminate against our family Zifeng, he is also an actor in our movie."
"How is that possible? Of course Zi Feng is an actor in our crew. The three of you are the Three Great Vajras."
As he spoke, Li Qian couldn't help but rub Zhang Zifeng's head, which was easier to touch than Wu Lei's short-haired head.
No wonder so many people like to touch children's heads, just put their hands on them, it's so convenient.
However, basically all children don't like others touching their heads, and Zhang Zifeng was no exception. He turned his head and avoided it.
"Ha ha."
The little round face is full of energy, it’s really cute.
However, even though he was only 9 years old, Li Qian still recognized Zhang Zifeng as the little girl in "Detective Chinatown".
The weird smile he showed while holding the book at the end of the movie is really a huge contrast to the cute smile he has now.
Li Qian stopped teasing her and turned to talk to Liu Ye about the drama.