Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 27 Returning to China
"The Banquet" finally hit the big screen in China, and Feng Xiaogang brought Zhang Ziyi to Toronto.

Zhang Ziyi is very popular abroad now. Many foreign fans on both sides of the red carpet called her name, and then took out DVDs of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "House of Flying Daggers" and asked her to sign them, and some even took out "Memoirs of a Geisha".

Zhang Ziyi was very proud on the red carpet and generously took photos and signed autographs with fans, which made Feng Xiaogang look a little lonely.

Li Qiutang did not attend the screening of "The Banquet" because he is busy. The film festival will close tomorrow and six media outlets want to interview him today.

He is a newcomer with a new film, and it's always the same old story. However, having so many media outlets come to interview a newcomer with a new film is a precious opportunity for exposure, so Li Qiutang is also doing his best.

"It will be released on the 28th," Li Qiutang said. This was the second time she accepted an interview with Xinlang during the film festival. "We have the least pressure. I'm a newcomer, so it's a success to be able to get it released in theaters."

"Enjoy the film festival." Li Qiutang was asked what he was doing after the market closed. "There are many interesting activities and many interesting movies here."

"Can you please tell me the transaction amount of "The Night the Comet Came" in the trading market?"

"It's not convenient, haha." Li Qiutang refused decisively, "I can only say that it's beyond our imagination. We are very satisfied."

"The Busan Film Festival has announced this year's shortlist, and Comet is also on the list."

"Really? I haven't seen it yet." Li Qiutang almost forgot that she had also signed up for the Busan Film Festival, but being nominated for one more film festival means more exposure, and this is what Li Qiutang needs now.

After finishing the interview, it was already time for dinner.

The next day, at the closing ceremony of the film festival, the Toronto Film Festival said that it was mainly about screening films, but it would still give out several awards. The highest award was called the "People's Choice Award", which was regarded as an important indicator of the Oscars.

Li Qiutang also sat in the theater and watched the closing ceremony in a proper manner.

This time Li Qiutang understood that the person on the podium was calling her name.

"The Night the Comet Came" won a Cultural Innovation Award. Li Qiutang had no idea what this award was about, so he went to receive it in a daze. He gave a acceptance speech as usual and then left.

The next day, the domestic media reported the following news: "The Banquet returned empty-handed from Toronto, while Comet won both awards and money!"

After another 30 hours of flight, Li Qiutang dragged the suitcase back to Yanjing.

China Film Group immediately started the early promotion of "The Night the Comet Came". Originally, they didn't plan to do it. It was just a low-budget movie, and it wasn't worth investing too much energy in promotion. But who would have thought that Li Qiutang would be so successful overseas? Others didn't know, but China Film Group didn't know that the global copyright of this movie was sold for more than 600 million US dollars? !
Which new director has this ability?
"Crazy Stone" didn't sell at all overseas.

This made Mr. Han think that Li Qiutang has a more "international vision" than Ning Hao. Comedy is a film genre with very local characteristics. Without its cultural soil, it is not funny. This is the reason why "Crazy Stone" did not sell well overseas. Foreigners did not get what was so funny about "Crazy Stone".

But Li Qiutang's movies are different. "The Night the Comet Came" does not have strong regional characteristics. On the night of the comet, eight friends get together and parallel universes overlap. Such a story can work in any country in the world.

This made Director Han pay more attention to the promotion of "The Night the Comet Came".

When it comes to the promotion of "The Night the Comet Came", a very important card is the overseas performance.

"A comet is coming!" The poster also reads "Selling tens of millions in North America!"

How can more than 200 million US dollars not be tens of millions!
In terms of cast, China Film Group has no cards to play. The only one with a little fame is Qin Lan, but she cannot be hyped up.

Since there is no card to play in the lineup, China Film will play the plot card.

"The first parallel universe movie in the history of domestic films! Experience the incredible!" It's no wonder these two cards work very well.

There really is a large number of audiences who went to see the advanced screenings because of the "million-dollar North American sales" and "the first parallel universe movie in the history of Chinese films." Judging from the feedback from theaters in Yanjing, the gimmick of "the first in history" was the most effective, and many theaters responded that the audience was quite interested in this movie.

Four days before its premiere, "The Night the Comet Came" was screened nearly a hundred times across the country - the number of screenings had to be controlled at this level, as more screenings would not be allowed by the theaters.

Judging from the audience feedback collected by China Film, the preview audiences were very appreciative of the film.

Some even said: "It's much better than The Banquet."

Speaking of "The Banquet", it was also terrible. The 1200 million on the first day broke the first day record of Feng Xiaogang's movies, and the result of over 5000 million in the first weekend was also very good.

However, the film's reputation collapsed on the first day, with audiences generally saying that the film was not good, and even the overseas reputation spread to the domestic market, affecting the market:

“What happens if someone sets a feast but forgets to prepare the food? That’s the impression left by Feng Xiaogang, China’s most successful commercial film director, with his visually splendid but content-free martial arts epic The Banquet.”

“Sure, this movie will be shown at festivals around the world with great fanfare because it was made on a huge budget and has the backing of a major studio. But everything about it is just flat-out boring, both in terms of story and characters.”

Some media even clamored: "Chinese directors should be banned from filming love triangles!"

Feng Xiaogang said: "There are so many people watching movies all over the world. If some of the audience don't like your movie, it doesn't mean you have failed."

But it was not until the premiere of "The Night the Comet Came" at Yanjing Huaxing Cinema on the 22nd, a full week after "The Banquet" was released and the box office had not yet exceeded million, that the industry basically knew what was going on with this movie.

China Film Group was quite responsible and actually invited many celebrity guests to the scene to support this newcomer.

I just don’t know whether Wang Zhonglei and Fan Bingbing were invited by China Film Group.

"No, he wanted to come on his own initiative, saying he wanted to support the new works of young directors." said the staff member next to him.

After signing, guest director Lu Chuan said: "I am here to support this junior. I have heard of him a long time ago and have always paid close attention to him. I am very happy for him that his film has been successfully released in theaters this time."

Wang Zhonglei took Fan Bingbing and said, "Director Qiu Tang also attended our Huayi's 12th anniversary celebration. Don't be too stingy with him. This is not our Huayi's film, but we should support good films."

Fan Bingbing didn't know Li Qiutang at all, and hadn't seen Comet in advance, so she said, "I came here as a movie fan. I'm very curious about director Qiutang's new film and hope to broaden my horizons."

Liu Yifei is here too!

She just released a new album at the end of last month, but the sales and market response were quite average, so it was quite unexpected to see her here:

"The director and I are classmates. His debut film is released and I came to congratulate him." She laughed as she said this. She was invited by China Film Group.

When asked if she would look for Li Qiutang to film with in the future, Liu Yifei smiled and said, "It depends on whether the director is willing to take me in, haha."

After Liu Yifei, two more groups of guests came. Finally, Li Qiutang, Qin Lan, Zhang Songwen, and the five main creators of Comet, including Jiang Wei, the art director, and Tian Zhuangzhuang, the chief producer (who is the director of the directing department in name only), walked on the red carpet to kick off today’s premiere.

(End of this chapter)