Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 157 Killing the Master with Three Punches

Lao Jiang, are you acting a movie with me?

He gasps for breath while speaking.

So, since I just didn't tell you my fortune for free and then drew up a lot of ways to help your ex-girlfriend out of trouble, you're not going to tell me?
Boss Lu is very resentful.

"Some people don't want to see you win an award at Cannes, so they asked me to target you in the film festival voting."

Before Lu Kuan could ask more questions, Jiang Wen hurriedly waved his hands.

"Don't ask me who I am. I definitely can't tell you. I didn't intend to do what they said."

Boss Lu was lost in thought, his expression gloomy.

He had an answer in his mind.

"Director Jiang, if you don't tell me, it's okay. I'll go home and post a blog tonight. That's it!"

"Hey so-and-so, you didn't let Director Jiang vote for me. I'll remember you!"

Jiang Wen almost spit out a mouthful of water.

"You are such a mean boy!"

Boss Lu chuckled and said, "Director Jiang, even without you telling me, I know this. There's no need to calculate this at all. It's very simple."

Jiang Wen had just listened to his talk, and it was undeniable that he was a meticulous and extremely intelligent young man.

But he really didn't believe that he could really analyze the cause and effect based on just this one sentence.

"Don't believe it? Let's make a bet?"

"Haha, fine, you set the rules."

Boss Lu was confident: "If I'm right, you can act in a movie for free. If I'm wrong, I'll invest 2000 million in your next movie."

"Okay!"

Lao Jiang was in high spirits. Few investors dared to get involved with someone like him who always overspent.

Huayi has never touched Jiang Wen's film after "Devils". They even gave up the recognized good project "Let the Bullets Fly". This casts a shadow on their reputation.

Later, even his close friend, Boss Dong, invested in "Dying to Survive" at the same time as his film and gave up his "Hidden Man".

Apart from the big enemy Li Shoucheng, no one knows where the persistence comes from.

It was probably because White Dragon King and Uncle Chen were no longer around at that time, so he no longer had the divine fortune teller to assist him.

Lu Kuan began to analyze it for him.

"I have very few personal vendettas against me, but I think it's against Shoplifters."

"Then I'll look for movies whose domestic releases conflict with mine. The only ones with similar strength and popularity are 'Heroes of Heaven and Earth' and 'Cell Phone'."

"'Cell Phone' is still filming, it has nothing to do with you. Huayi is using 'Heroes of Heaven and Earth' to provoke you, right?"

Jiang Wen smiled noncommittally.

"I admire you. I hope you can find a good script for me."

Lu Kuan picked up the lemonade and drank a glass with him, fulfilling the bet.

Jiang Wen didn't want to disclose this matter, but Lu Kuan was very kind to give her a free public relations training.

He disdained to help the capitalists do such immoral things, but he also didn't want to show their ugly faces.

After all, I wasn't planning on doing this.

He is a very stubborn person. He can open up to people he likes and approves of. In his eyes, mediocre people are nothing and he won't even give them a second glance.

Jiang Wen and Hua Yi are both from the Beijing circle, but the former is somewhat eccentric and stands outside the circle.

What a wonderful person.

Lu Kuan returned to the room and Bingbing was taking off her makeup.

"Did you drink with Jiang Wen?"

Lu Kuan sat down on the sofa with his bare chest: "Well, I also heard some bad news."

Only then did Fan Bingbing stop what he was doing.

"what happened?"

"I don't know if it was the big dog or the little dog who told Jiang Wen to vote against Shoplifters."

"Is there still this matter?"

Fan Bingbing smacked his lips. "But this is just like their style. It's really despicable."

Boss Lu hugged her and held her in his arms.

"Why aren't you in a hurry?"

The girl smiled sweetly and put her arms around his neck: "Don't you have it? Is there anything you can't solve?"

As she spoke, she suddenly felt ashamed and patted Lu Kuan’s chest: “Stop messing around! I’m talking.”

"What are you going to do?"

Lu Kuan ruthlessly moved his hands up and down: "Steam, fry, boil, and roast, settle all the old and new accounts together, give them a hell meal."

He instigated Liu Zeyu to intercept "Chinese Paladin" and promoted "The Drummer" in Venice, and this time he secretly made trouble.

Do these people think they don’t know about the bad things they do secretly?
The woman in his arms was enjoying it so much that she felt an itch that could not be shaken off.

When I offered myself to be your partner, I was just trying to give it a try.

Unexpectedly, there was a silver lining after all. He was brought to Cannes and onto the red carpet as planned. A man's power and money are like aphrodisiacs to women. The famous actress was so hot that she reached out to touch her vital parts.

She lay on Boss Lu's shoulder and bit his ear quietly.

"It's safe today, you can..."

Boss Lu smiled and said, "Let's just whet our appetite today and wear the red carpet dress tomorrow night."

"Hate!"

In the early hours of the morning, Bingbing withdrew from the battlefield, leaving Lu Kuan alone tossing and turning.

It's not that I have anything on my mind, I just can't sleep because of the jet lag.

Recalling the conversation with Jiang Wen in the evening, the reason why Hua Yi targeted him was very simple.

The domestic film market is too small these days, and Lu Kuan declined their investment in "Shoplifters".

In the second half of this year, apart from imported films, the only film that can compete with Huayi's "Heroes of Heaven and Earth" and "Cell Phone" is "The Thief".

Everyone knows Mr. Lu’s creativity in film marketing and distribution. If he can successfully achieve success in Cannes, it will surely be another successful replication.

With the support of two of the three major titles, Lu Kuan's personal IP will undoubtedly surpass that of Kuaishou, who can only make Lunar New Year films, and his movie box office will also increase.

We all eat from the same pot. The domestic film market is only this big now. If we don't target you, we will have a hard time surviving.

In addition, the recent development of the entertainment industry has entered the fast lane, with large-scale recruitment, acquisition of novel copyrights, and search for contracted artists, which has also put a certain amount of pressure on Huayi.

Lu Kuan looked at his watch. It was exactly 9 o'clock in the morning in Peking. He decided to make some arrangements to give them some trouble.

For a figurehead, especially one that holds public opinion resources, it is very easy to target Huayi.

But just creating some negative information about him verbally, and engaging in a war of words and exchanges between the two sides, would be too harmless.

The first call he made was to Zhuang Xu.

There are not many people you can trust to do dirty work now.

Lu Kuan arranged for Zhuang Xu to spread the implicit connection between the "Cell Phone" script and Cui Yongyuan on blogs and other online media.

This case became famous in later generations.

From "Cell Phone 1" to "Cell Phone 2", Feng Kuazi and screenwriter Liu Zhenyun unkindly used this host as a prototype and wrote a story about a mistress.

To some extent, Bingbing was also implicated in this incident. Cui exposed the Yin-Yang contract incident, which caused an avalanche in the entire domestic entertainment industry.

"Cell Phone" is currently being filmed in a hotel in Qingdao. Later, host Cui openly criticized Feng Xiaogang only after the movie was released.

The little cannon was very cunning. Before filming began, he even approached host Cui and invited him to play Yan Shouyi, but was declined.

Cui Yongyuan never thought that he could do such a thing. He had not read the script and did not know that this was a story that was almost copied according to his own words.

On the one hand, Lu Kuan arranged for Zhuang Xu to have a lot of online publicity, so that the host Cui would feel ashamed and angry before the film was released.

On the other hand, a document was also delivered to Cui.

It details how Feng and Liu conspired to use him as a prototype for fun, and describes in exaggerated terms what impact the movie will have on him after it is released.

Host Cui is a public figure these days, and his words still carry some weight.

Even if he has no weight, with the enthusiastic citizen Lu Kuan promoting him on his blog, he will definitely be able to bite off a piece of meat from these ungrateful people, right?

This move will at best force Feng Kuazi to change the script and reshoot the film. According to the estimated progress, the film should be completed in June, so it will be started next month, causing the Huayi crew to waste more film and costs.

In serious cases, the entire film project will be directly ruined because it will be rejected by the Film Bureau after review due to violations of the subject matter.

Of course, this is quite difficult. At present, Xiaopingtou has a close relationship with them. After all, Pants was promoted by President Han, and "Cell Phone" also had investment from China Film.

The second call he made was to Zhong Lifang.

Instigating Choi Yong-won to cause trouble for them is just a small test. If they want to really hurt Huayi, they have to snipe them from the perspective of industrial logic.

Unfortunately, Huayi’s development path and Wenjie’s have some conflicts – regarding the distribution business segment.

As mentioned earlier, when Lu Kuan was looking for a distributor for "The Drummer" in 2002, Huayi did not have the distribution capabilities.

So when did this entertainment giant make up for this shortcoming?
It was in this year's "Heroes of Heaven and Earth" project that Huayi reached an agreement with its partner Xi'an Film Studio to acquire the latter's distribution company during the latter's equity reform.

However, current national policy does not allow private enterprises to control the distribution of state-owned film studios. In the end, Huayi acquired 44% of the shares of the Xi'an Film Studio's distribution company.

In the entire industry chain centered around film production that Lu Kuan envisioned, cinemas and theater chains started with the acquisition of Golden Harvest, and distribution might as well intercept Huayi's goal.

At present, the capital flow in the industry is very abundant. Coupled with the 240 million copyright income from the sale of "Blind Well" in Berlin, it is not a problem to snipe Huayi, which has not yet received investment from Internet capital.

There is no need to make the third call now, we need to wait for the right opportunity to make it.

Later in October 2003, Ge Luming, a white Colombian who financed the crew of "Heroes of Heaven and Earth", died in a car accident.

The producer of Huayi and Lu Tailang's new film "Kekexili" was also in the car and was involved in a car accident.

Rumors are flying about Huayi's role in this matter.

Even if Boss Lu doesn't set the pace, they will still have to drink the pot when the time comes.

In addition, "Heroes of Heaven and Earth" has already suffered a huge loss.

The three sets of combined punches will not only beat the dogs of all sizes to pieces, but will definitely slow down their path to listing by one or two years.

It is said that the world of martial arts is not all about fighting and killing. After all, Huayi is one of the more powerful forces in the Beijing circle, and the relationships are complicated.

You can stab someone in the back or set a trap secretly, but everyone still maintains harmony on the surface. Otherwise, if you beat the little dog, a bunch of old dogs will come out and yell at you.

Too much trouble.

At worst, he still has a beautiful special agent Bingbing, who may be able to deliver a fatal blow at any time and cooperate with him to completely dismember this giant ship of the entertainment industry.

(End of this chapter)