Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 177 Filming = Fraud
It is a consensus in the industry that successful directors are not short of money.

But even though Feng Xiaogang is so capable of making money, it was generally believed in the industry that his net worth would not exceed 100 million.

In 08, the Forbes Celebrity List calculated his income at 490 million that year, and in 06 it was reported that his income was 1200 million - at that time he even pretended to be cool by saying that he had suffered huge losses due to piracy.

Despite this, it should not be a problem for Feng Xiaogang's net worth to be less than 100 million.

Even Feng Xiaogang is like this, let alone Li Qiutang.

No one cared about Li Qiutang's wealth before. People guessed that this guy should be rich, but not too rich, less than Feng Xiaogang. His net worth should be around 10 or 20 million.

The truth is that Li Qiutang usually does not behave in a high-profile manner. Apart from the luxury car that he drives, the rest of his clothing, food, housing and transportation are not very eye-catching.

Li Qiutang still lives in a long private room in a hotel and has not bought a mansion like other stars.

But now it’s different. Li Qiutang’s net worth has exceeded 2 million by purchasing Huayi’s original shares!

A true Monopoly man!

In 84, there were few talented directors at the age of 25, and there were not many billionaires at the age of 25!
When Li Qiutang made her debut, she was regarded as a representative of the post-80s generation together with Han Han. Now it seems that Li Qiutang's achievements should be higher than Han Han's.

Even Liu Yifei was surprised at his income. She was not short of money and was not materialistic, but she had never seen what 2 million looked like.

"Do you really have 2 million?" Liu Yifei knew that she probably shouldn't ask about her boyfriend's assets, but she was really curious.

"You look like 2 million to me."

"People on the Internet say you have 2 million."

"That's Huayi's stock valued at 2 million, and I can't cash it out. Even if it's worth 10 billion, I won't get it."

"So when can you cash out?"

"Maybe in a year. Who knows what these stocks will be worth in a year."

"So you are so rich." After asking, Liu Yifei began to tease her boyfriend.

"Now you know what kind of person you found." If Li Qiutang told Liu Yifei that he had more than 2 million US dollars in his overseas accounts, he wondered if she would be scared.

"Arrogant." She was just curious and wanted to ask, she had no idea about Li Qiutang's money, and she didn't think she could spend Li Qiutang's money now, except for the gifts she usually gave her.

The reporters who came to Yu City for interviews finally caught up. An earlier or later they would not be able to meet Li Qiutang.

Li Qiutang didn't know at this time that the reporters came because of his skyrocketing wealth. He naively thought that "In Time" was popular before it was released, attracting so many reporters to visit the set, even financial reporters!
But the interview went wrong from the beginning. The reporters only asked about Huayi's listing, original shares, and billions of dollars in assets. Few people cared about the filming of "In Time".

"It was launched yesterday? I don't know, I was too busy on the crew." Li Qiutang was not pretending to be cool, he really didn't pay much attention to the progress of Huayi's listing.

"You held 220 million original shares in advance. Did you foresee that Huayi's stock price would surge after its listing?"

“I am just optimistic about Huayi’s future development. Who can predict the listing situation?”

"The stock value has increased, my wealth has skyrocketed, how do I plan to spend this money?"

"It's not the lifting period yet, so there's no rush. I'm not short of money right now, and this fortune shouldn't have a big impact on my life."

"Will it affect your state of mind for filming?" "No, if I wanted to make money I wouldn't be a director." He smiled and said, "Are you not interested in our movie? I'll change the scene today and I'll have time to talk to you about the movie."

Of course, the financial reporters had no interest in the movie. After hearing what Li Qiutang said, 80% of them left immediately, leaving the rest to the entertainment reporters.

Li Qiutang said a lot more today, including that the film will be completed in Hong Kong; some difficulties encountered during the filming, such as the special effects, which he also learned while filming and tried to do well; he is very optimistic about science fiction themes, and also said that domestic science fiction is still in its infancy, and every science fiction movie should go steady and well, set a good example for domestic science fiction movies, and lay a solid foundation.

It would have been fine if Li Qiutang didn't mention this, but when talking about this, the reporter asked him if he had seen "Robot".

This movie was released during the summer vacation, and it was advertised as China's first intelligent robot movie. However, it was criticized by the audience after its release and ended with a dismal box office of 5000 million. It has been more than four months since then, and the storm has long passed.

The reporter mentioned this movie at this time simply because the two are about the same subject and he just asked a question.

But Li Qiutang launched an attack on a movie that was made four months ago:
"I think the director didn't put in the effort. He doesn't understand science fiction, nor does he understand the market. He brought over the bad habits of Hong Kong studios in the 100s. He dared to start a film as long as he had an idea, and then he dared to release it after piecing together various elements for minutes."

Li Qiutang understood the special working methods of Hong Kong films at that time due to their special environment. For example, before Wang Jing filmed Tricky Brains, he only received ten words from the company: Tricky Brains, Stephen Chow, and Andy Lau. The filming started seven days later.

But this working method should be eliminated by now, and should not be allowed to be used in a science fiction film.

Liu Zhenwei's "Robot" is such a film that was put together: seeing that "Transformers" was a hit, he wanted to copy it by adding some Chinese elements. It started shooting at the end of December 08, and was completed at the end of February 12. It took half a year to work on the special effects, and was released in August. Which special effects science fiction film is made like this!

Liu Zhenwei and "Robot" did not hire Li Qiutang, but since Liu Zhenwei is making films like this, especially science fiction films, Li Qiutang must come out and speak!
When Li Qiutang starts to criticize, he is no less powerful than Feng Xiaogang.

"I think Liu Zhenwei is no longer suitable to be a director. His storytelling and directing thinking is obviously still stuck in the small-scale Hong Kong team model of the 1980s and 1990s. He can no longer keep up with the times, let alone the demand for science fiction films."

Li Qiutang even said that Liu Zhenwei's current filmmaking "is no different from fraud."

The reporter never expected that Li Qiutang would suddenly attack Liu Zhenwei. Li Qiutang also said: "Domestic science fiction is very fragile. In the past two years, there has been a small wave of science fiction. There are companies willing to invest in science fiction films. We should cherish this environment instead of using films like "Robot" to fool the audience and investors, making a lot of money for ourselves, leaving the market in a mess."

Li Qiutang thought that he could take advantage of this small science fiction trend and make "In Time". Not to mention laying a solid foundation for domestic science fiction in advance, but at least it could let the market and investors see that domestic science fiction has great potential in the early stage, and it could also set an example for future directors.

He was afraid that the hard-earned science fiction trend would pass, so he equally hated all people and films that polluted the science fiction market.

The reporter asked Li Qiutang in return: "So you are very confident about "In Time"?"

Li Qiutang set a goal: "With such a huge investment and talents from three or four countries gathered together, if I mess up, I will basically say goodbye to the film industry."

The words are a bit serious, but what matters is the effect.

Sure enough, after returning, various reporters published Li Qiutang's remarks.

“Visiting the set of In Time. Li Qiutang: Robot destroyed the domestic science fiction environment!”

"Li Qiutang from "In Time": Liu Zhenwei can't keep up with the times! Filming now is considered a scam!"

"Visiting the set of In Time. Li Qiutang: If In Time fails, I will say goodbye to the film industry!"

Li Qiutang's remarks gave "In Time" very good advance publicity. Many people who had not paid attention to "In Time" before now know that such a science fiction blockbuster is being filmed.

The next day, Li Qiutang, Liu Ye and Liu Yifei arrived in Pengcheng on the same flight, and then passed customs together to reach Hong Kong.

(End of this chapter)