Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 233 What does it mean to bring a prophet?
What Li Qiutang said two years ago is still gaining more and more value!
When "Red Cliff" was released that year, Li Qiutang pointed out the techniques used by Hong Kong and Taiwan directors, represented by Wu Yusen and Zhu Yanping, to promote new talents.

To sum it up is: use mainland funds as a scapegoat, join hands with Hong Kong and Taiwan, use popular mainland stars as supporting roles, and support the new generation of Hong Kong and Taiwan actors.

The reason they can do this is simply because the genre film teams in Hong Kong and Taiwan are more mature than those in the mainland, and the value of the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Golden Horse Awards far exceeds that of the mainland's Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards - using award nominations to lure actors.

Two years ago, when Li Qiutang pointed out these things to reporters, she said: "It doesn't matter if they know what I said. You see, they will do what I say because they have no other choice."

Two years have passed, and these people's actions have exactly as Li Qiutang expected.

Before the release of "Sword Rain" this year, some netizens reorganized the transcript of Li Qiutang's interview two years ago, and sorted out the speeches of Wu Yusen and Zhu Yanping on co-production films at a forum in Singapore this year.

At the forum, Wu and Zhu openly shared their techniques on how to use mainland funds and popular mainland actors to support new talents from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Wu and Zhu publicly mentioned that mainland stars who are willing to cooperate and support new Taiwanese stars can be appropriately "rewarded" with a nomination for the Golden Horse Awards or the Golden Image Awards, so as to encourage more mainland stars to follow suit and rush to support the new generation that Taiwan is promoting.

They use this method to give investors the illusion that the most popular mainland actors can only play supporting roles for the new generation of Hong Kong and Taiwan, and that mainland newcomers are not worthy of playing the leading role.

They also complained that Chen Jiashang actually used three mainland actors to play the leading roles in "Painted Skin", and believed that he set a very bad precedent by allowing the outside world to see that mainlanders can also play leading roles and make money at the box office.

"Sword Rain" went even further down this path, with no mainlander among the main actors.

You can see Guo Xiaodong and Jiang Yiyan in the cast list. Can you remember the names of the characters they played and what parts they had in the movie?
Jung Woo-sung is certainly a very good actor, but as the male lead of a Chinese martial arts film, there are only a few male actors from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong, so why choose a Korean?

How many domestic audiences know Jung Woo-sung? What is the purpose of using him?

Therefore, a Douban netizen commented after watching the movie: "He only trains Taiwanese actors, not mainland actors, and not even Hong Kong actors. He does not use Hong Kong and Taiwan actors, he only uses Taiwanese actors. After returning from the United States, he produced 7 movies that used a total of 11 Taiwanese actors, creating the record of the number of actors trained by Hong Kong and Taiwan directors from a single region. The heroines of every movie he produced were not from the mainland, because he couldn't stand mainland actresses occupying the leading roles in Chinese-language films."

You said that the audience's words were too harsh and wronged him, but the audience was just repeating what he had done.

The quality of the finished film "Sword Rain" is actually not bad, but the release date chosen for the film is really bad.

A new work by a new artist dares to be released during the National Day holiday?

With "Ip Man: The Legend of Chen Zhen" before and "Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame" after, what can Su Zhaobin rely on to win?

The film company was being clever by playing the card of producer Wu Yusen, but most ordinary audiences are used to choosing films based on the director and the leading actor.

Among the leading actors, only Yang Ziqiong is well-known to the audience. As for the male lead, Jung Woo-sung, few people in mainland China know him unless they are fans of Korean dramas and movies. As for Wang Xueqi, Da Xianqu, Yu Wenle, Dai Liren and others, even if passers-by know them, they will not buy tickets for them!
So many people in the industry are really puzzled, how did this cast come together? Except for Wu Yusen, none of them can sell tickets!
When the fledgling Li Qiutang was filming "No One Cares", he knew to use Fan Bingbing and Huang Xiaoming to attract the audience!

The fate of "Sword Rain" was that it was well received by the critics but not by the box office, and it was directly crushed by "The Mystery of the Phantom Flame", another martial arts film.

It made less than 2500 million on the first day and 12 million in the first week. It was even worse in Hong Kong, with 76 on the first day and in the first week. Basically, no one watched it.

Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame sold really well. The old monster returned to the martial arts world and the answer sheet was very popular in the market. After the holiday, the box office closed at 2 million, firmly sitting on the throne of the champion of the National Day prime time. In South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries and regions, Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame also sold well. Some media said that Huayi has found a new growth point after Li Qiutang left.

Li Qiutang has been gone for more than a year, but the media is still thinking about her because "In Time" is getting closer.

In the early promotion of "Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame", Wang Zhonglei did not shy away from talking about Li Qiutang. In front of the media, he always affirmed Li Qiutang's contribution to Huayi Company and said that he still maintained a very friendly personal relationship with Li Qiutang.

“I think we’ll work together again.”

It has been so long since the incident happened, and no reporters are asking about the relationship between Li Qiutang and Feng Xiaogang anymore.

Wang Zhonglei also promoted In Time for free: "I am looking forward to this movie."

During this period, Li Qiutang has been struggling to get a schedule for "In Time".

He still wants to schedule the Lunar New Year release.

But the Film Bureau still did not allow him to schedule the Lunar New Year film.

A very good reason is that this year's mainland box office is expected to exceed 10 billion yuan, which has already exceeded the target. Due to the importance the Film Bureau attaches to "In Time", they do not want it to stay in 11, but hope that it will explore the market for .

Relevant leaders of the Film Bureau also predicted that "In Time" would perform well, and it was precisely because of their optimism that they gave Li Qiutang such an important task.

"It's because the Spring Festival market is not big enough that we let you go. The Lunar New Year period is already crowded with blockbusters, why do you want to squeeze in? The Spring Festival period has great potential, and we hope that blockbusters like you can develop this market. In the future, we will watch blockbusters during the Lunar New Year period and the Spring Festival period as well."

In short, there are enough Lunar New Year movies, so go watch them next year.

He also said: "Didn't you say that you were in a hurry for post-production? I'll give you one more month to do the post-production properly."

Li Qiutang had no choice but to agree to go next year, but with a condition. Yes, he dared to make conditions to the competent department.

"The rescheduling will definitely have an impact on me. I will be participating in exhibitions abroad and selling copyrights in advance. I hope the Film Bureau and the General Administration will not block my procedures when the time comes."

"I thought it was something else. It's okay for us to send your film to exhibitions and awards abroad. How can we not release it if foreigners accept it?" In fact, the Film Bureau is not optimistic about the performance of "In Time" overseas. This film is politically correct as steel in China, but it will be regarded as a scourge abroad.

However, since Li Qiutang wants to go abroad, the competent authorities have no reason to stop her.

Three days later, the competent authorities received a declaration from Autumn Pictures, one of the producers of "In Time".

Li Qiutang hopes to bring "In Time" to the Golden Globe Awards, and if possible, even apply for an Oscar!

(End of this chapter)