Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 320 If I were a few years younger, I would fight with you

Li Qiutang also recommended "Thousand Arrows Piercing the Heart" on her personal Weibo, but "Thousand Arrows Piercing the Heart" only had a box office of 30 on the first day.

This kind of heart-wrenching art film is not here to win box office revenue, it will be a success once it is released.

In the second week after the release of "Thousand Arrows Piercing the Heart", Li An brought his new work "Life of Pi" to domestic theaters.

The first day's performance was average, only 1200 million, but every screening was a word-of-mouth show. The word-of-mouth of this movie was explosively good.

Li Qiutang and Liu Yifei went to see it together. It was indeed good. Li An's thoughts on human nature and divinity were all in this movie.

The visual effects are also very well done.

"Life of Pi" did not need Li Qiutang to promote it, but Li Qiutang still wrote about his viewing experience on Weibo, praising "Life of Pi" for being good.

"Life of Pi" grossed over 100 million yuan in its first four days over the weekend.

Also on Sunday, the first cinema under Autumn Pictures, Autumn International Cinema, was finally completed and opened for business!

The cinema is located on the 5th floor of a shopping mall on Malian Road, Xicheng District, and is planned to have 7 theaters with a total of 785 seats.

As Autumn Pictures' first step into film investment, this cinema is positioned as a luxury flagship with world-class hardware facilities.

New Film Association once tried to trick Li Qiutang into opening a theater for 4DX, where the seats would vibrate with the movie plot, under the pretext of making the audience feel more involved. However, Li Qiutang refused to build a 4DX theater out of professional considerations.

This kind of movie will never become popular. Building such a theater is a sheer waste of money. It would be better to build an IMAX theater and still charge more.

A lot of money was invested in this flagship cinema in the fall, and it finally opened before the Lunar New Year holiday.

At the opening ceremony, Autumn Pictures invited many friends in the industry to support.

Of course Liu Yifei had to come and do her own business.

Celebrities such as Han Dong, Jackie Chan, Fan Bingbing, Zhang Guoli, Ning Hao, Yu Dong, and Chen Guofu gathered together.

Autumn Pictures also invited all guests to cut the ribbon for the opening of the cinema.

This is a big step forward for the development of the autumn film industry. Which filmmaker doesn't want a cinema of his or her own?

Fan Bingbing came to Liu Yifei holding a champagne glass, nodded at Li Qiutang who was chatting and laughing not far away, and said softly: "Congratulations."

"What are you congratulating me for?" Liu Yifei said with a smile.

"You know what I'm congratulating you for."

Liu Yifei smiled.

Fan Bingbing then laughed and said, "If I were a few years younger, I would have snatched it from you."

Liu Yifei looked at Fan Bingbing in disbelief.

Fan Bingbing smiled and said, "I'm just teasing you. Hold on tight, my dear. There are so many fairies who are eyeing a man like you."

Liu Yifei smiled and said nothing.

Fan Bingbing continued to tease her: "If I were you, I would take him to get the certificate when I go to work tomorrow Monday."

Liu Yifei said: "Hey, what are you talking about?"

Fan Bingbing didn't let her go: "Please think about what I said." Then he left.

Coming to Li Qiutang, Fan Bingbing said, "The cinema is open now, so it's time for you to treat me to the wedding banquet."

"You can drink the wedding wine."

"I can wait, but some people can't."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at Yifei's current state," Liu Yifei was also talking to the guests around her, "If you rush over and propose to her now, she will definitely agree."

"Shut up." Li Qiutang scolded with a smile.

Fan Bingbing chuckled: "I find that you two are quite a good match."

baffling.

But after returning home, Li Qiutang did feel that Liu Yifei was abnormal.

She was very enthusiastic and proactive, and even suggested that Li Qiutang give up her hotel apartment and move in with her. Li Qiutang thought that she was overwhelmed by the joy of the cinema opening, and at the same time, she was overwhelmed by herself, and she was just talking nonsense.

After the location scouting team for "The Invisible Guest" came back from Hong Kong, Li Qiutang had been looking at the materials.

If "The Invisible Guest" had not failed to pass the censorship in mainland China, Li Qiutang really didn't want to go to Hong Kong.

Most of the film's scenes were still shot in mainland China, and the main scene - the hotel room where the male and female protagonists have a conversation - will be set in a studio at the Huairou Film and Television Base.

According to the rules of co-productions, "The Invisible Guest" must be performed by Hong Kong actors. Li Qiutang generously gave the two roles of the heroine Zhong Huilian's partner and the young man who was hit and killed to the Hong Kong team.

The first role that the entire "Invisible Guest" crew decided on was the heroine's spouse. The Silver Supervisor Agency was responsible for casting in Hong Kong, and they chose Zeng Jiang for Li Qiutang.

“Isn’t he too old?” Zeng Jiang is almost 80!
"No." The people from the Silver Supervisor said, "You need to find a real old man, this is it, and he speaks Mandarin very well, so he can perform in all languages without any problem."

"How is he?"

"You may not be able to outdo him. He shoots three or four movies a year and stays up late like young people."

Li Qiutang thought about it and agreed to Zeng Jiang's performance.

He had always wanted to find an actress around 50 years old to play Zhong Huilian. Zeng Jiang's performance reminded Li Qiutang why not find someone older?

Li Qiutang went straight to look among the grandmothers in their sixties and seventies.

The number of people of this age who are still active in the industry can be counted on one hand.

Li Qiutang quickly identified two target candidates, seniors Xi Meijuan and Lu Zhong.

Neither teacher had expected that at their age, there would still be film directors looking for them to play the leading female roles.

He is a director of Li Qiutang's level.

The final person chosen was Teacher Xi Meijuan. Lu Zhongming had agreed to star in many other plays next year and didn’t want to work too hard, so he missed the opportunity.

After signing the contract with Xi Meijuan, Li Qiutang took the photographers, lighting designers, art designers and producers and left Beijing for a re-survey.

Before leaving, Li Qiutang did not forget to remind the casting team to continue selecting actors and send him the casting information every day.

When Li Qiutang left Yanjing, the Lunar New Year movie season had already begun.

"The Banquet" VS "1942", released on the same day.

Many viewers were confused. How did Star Media conduct market research to have its film released on the same day as Feng Xiaogang's? Does Lu Chuan have the ability to outperform Feng Xiaogang?
But this cannot be blamed on Xingmei. I guess Lu Chuan doesn't want to meet Feng Xiaogang face to face.

The situation this year is really special.

Since November, a major event has occurred: the five major distributors forced theaters to make concessions!

This year's Lunar New Year blockbusters are all in the hands of these five major distributors, who are trying to unite and force theaters to increase their revenue sharing.

But the cinemas have been the boss for such a long time, how could they compromise so easily?

Distributors say that production costs are getting higher every year, and the pressure to recoup investment is getting greater; theaters say that rent, utilities, and labor costs are rising every year, and they are not having an easy time either.

The theater alliance directly criticized the distributor for not knowing the rules, not being politically conscious, and forgetting one’s principles when it comes to profit.

The results of it?
Unable to hold on any longer, Huayi took the lead and signed a tiered profit-sharing agreement with the cinema chain. The distributor would get 3% of the box office within 43 million yuan, and the cinema chain would get 57%. The box office exceeding 3 million yuan would be divided at 45% to 55%, and the box office exceeding 8 million yuan would be divided at 47% to 53%.

When Guangxian saw Huayi kneeling down, he also semi-publicly turned against them.

Xingmei President Qin directly cursed people on Weibo.

Then, as if out of spite, "The Banquet" signed a new profit-sharing agreement with the theaters: the film company's share of the profit was 43% in the first week, which was reduced to 41% in the second week, and further reduced to 39% in the third week until it was withdrawn from theaters.

Just to give concessions to cinema chains, they forced the screening of the film, which is disgusting.

What is autumn doing?
Watching a play in autumn!
There is only one movie "Lost in Thailand" in the autumn Lunar New Year holiday, and no one cares about it, while the five major distributors are all holding Lunar New Year blockbusters.

Qiu Qiu’s own distribution network has just been established. To put it bluntly, it is not yet qualified to join the Avengers Alliance of distributors.

Star Media competed with Huayi out of spite, but on the first day of screening, "The Banquet" still failed to beat "34.65", which ranked first with a screening rate of %.

Although the rebellion failed, it is not difficult to see that there is a certain degree of rebellion among those who make the film industry, but their organization is too fragmented and nothing can be accomplished.

(End of this chapter)