Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 149 The Only Choice

Those who were interested in looking through the news found that since the filming of "The Sound of Wind" was completed in November last year, Li Qiutang has not attended any public events of Huayi, nor has she performed on the same stage with the Wang brothers again.

This can certainly be attributed to the fact that Li Qiutang is low-key and works behind the scenes, so it is normal that there is no news about her.

But some people can't help thinking that way, and the more they look at it, the more it seems that the two parties have broken up.

"The Sound of Wind" is such a big production, but the Wang brothers were collectively absent from the Shanghai Film Festival press conference. Li Qiutang was also absent from the cocktail party of Huayi Company. How can this be explained?
The news is still fermenting and has not yet affected Li Qiutang's activities at the film festival.

Today he will attend the official forum of the film festival as one of the main guests, with the theme: Made in China - What kind of movies does the Chinese film market need.

The host is Zhang Guoli, who will soon work with him, and the other three guests are directors: Wang Xiaoshuai, Lu Chuan, and Ning Hao.

The structure of the four directors is very interesting, Lu, Ning and Wang all made their debut in art films, only Li Qiutang made his debut in genre films, but Lu Chuan and Ning Hao have now switched to genre films, and only Wang Xiaoshuai is still making art films; and among the four directors, Li, Ning and Lu are all members of the billion-yuan club, and only Wang Xiaoshuai has no box office results.

Lu Chuan talked about the changes in the current film market in conjunction with the 19-city roadshow of "Nanjing! Nanjing!". Ning Hao said that art films need to find new ways to achieve box office success. Li Qiutang spoke later and talked about how low- and medium-cost films can balance quality and the market.

When it was Wang Xiaoshuai's turn to speak, he opened fire: "When I came here, I kept reminding myself to speak calmly, not to get excited, and not to offend anyone. But now it seems that because they are calmer than me, I can no longer remain calm. I can only speak because the box office of the three of them is too good, and they have all made over 100 million. But as directors, they have failed."

The other three directors were all confused. What did I do to deserve such a scolding? How could I have failed?

But the three of them still maintained their composure and listened to him patiently. Then Li Qiutang picked up the microphone and began to refute him: "I am the youngest here and the least afraid of death, so I will say it first. I disagree with what Director Wang said. Director Wang just said that you also admit that the entertainment of movies is very important. Entertainment movies and literary and artistic movies are both important parts of the movie market. You admit this, right? Then why is it that we fail when we make genre films and bring entertainment to the audience? You agree that genre films and literary and artistic films are both important parts of the market, but you say that directors who make genre films are failures. Isn't this a contradiction?
"I think making movies requires diversified thinking. You can't just use this attitude just because your box office is not good. I think Director Wang lacks basic respect for genre films."

The host Zhang Guoli also stood up to criticize Wang Xiaoshuai: "You put yourself in the vulnerable group. But vulnerable groups have one characteristic, which is that they don't make offensive statements. You attacked us on stage, so you are not in the vulnerable group."

Then the first section of the forum ended. The four directors left the stage and were replaced by four experts in the film industry, including Yu Dong and Gao Jun.

The four directors listened to them talking about the theme of the forum from the perspective of theaters and distribution. Then the four directors were invited to the stage. This unit focused on the relationship between directors, theaters and distributors, and talked about how to make a good movie, how to attract audiences and how to get high box office.

In this section, Cheng Guowei, deputy general manager of Wanda Cinemas, talked about "No Man's Glory". He said: "At the beginning, the screening schedule of "No Man's Glory" was not high, but the theater attendance rate was very high. Later, we gradually increased the number of screenings. I am not afraid to say in front of Director Li that we were not optimistic about "No Man's Glory" before the screening because it conflicted with "Resurrection of the Dragon". In the end, we made a wrong judgment."

Li Qiutang listened more, but in the end Zhang Guoli still asked him to speak.

The speakers before him were very cunning. The topic of this unit was the relationship between directors, distributors and theaters, but they all avoided talking about it.

Li Qiutang also played dead, and perfunctorily brushed off this unit by saying that the market was developing, the number of screens was increasing, and the cake was getting bigger.

Because it's really useless. The share of the producer is too low. It is a fact that the cinema chain sucks blood from the upper end of the industry chain, but this situation will not change in the next ten years, because expanding the cinema chain is the strategy of the upper level. No matter how much the producer makes a fuss, it will be useless. The entire forum still has some useful information, such as Li Qiutang's criticism of Wang Xiaoshuai.

However, due to time constraints, Zhang Guoli cancelled the question-and-answer session and did not read out any of the questions he received.

At 2: p.m., at a luxury hotel on the Bund, China Film Group held a press conference for "In Time," inviting media and industry dignitaries.

The name of this film has only been known now. On the list of press conferences for the Shanghai Film Festival, the event is only called the "China Film Group Press Conference."

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the press conference officially began, hosted by Jing Wei, the leading actress of the film channel.

President Han delivered an opening speech and lit up the big screen.

The five green words "TIME" flickered on the big screen like breathing, and below was the English name "TIME CAGE", which means time cage.

In his opening speech, President Han said that this film "will open a new chapter in the genre of domestic films!"

“Because it’s a very meaningful science fiction blockbuster!”

Mr. Han first boasted on behalf of Li Qiutang: "I hope that starting from this movie, the Chinese film market will have science fiction films!"

After Mr. Han finished his speech, the host Jing Wei said, "Today is not just a new film press conference. Please be patient. I know what you want to know. Next, let us welcome the director of In Time, the famous young director of our country, Li Qiutang!"

The audience was immediately boiling with excitement!
Due to the popularity of Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters such as "Transformers" and "Iron Man", a sci-fi trend has been sweeping China in the past two years. Yesterday, Liu Zhenwei just held a press conference for "Robot", saying that this is a sci-fi blockbuster with special effects comparable to "Transformers". Today, Li Qiutang came with his "In Time".

Three years ago, Li Qiutang was still an unknown person and was begging for help in Yanjing for "The Night the Comet Came". At that time, he said that he wanted to make a science fiction film, and he was so confident that China would have its own science fiction blockbuster.

At that time, no one cared about what Li Qiutang said. Now, Li Qiutang has become the most popular young director in the Chinese-speaking world. When the science fiction wave hits, the media and the audience think about who else in the mainland can manage science fiction films. There is only one answer - Li Qiutang.

Although "The Night the Comet Came" is not the kind of science fiction that everyone thinks of, "Comet" is the only domestic science fiction film that many people can remember that has achieved good results in recent years. Who else can this project be handed over to except Li Qiutang?

Li Qiutang wore a casual suit today. He straightened his clothes and went on stage.

Liu Yifei was sitting in the audience, looking at Li Qiutang on the stage and thought he was quite handsome.

(End of this chapter)