Who says Beijing Film Academy has no great directors? (2002)

In June, "Buried Alive" was released with great fanfare. With the endorsement of Chen Yan from China Film Group, the film secured 35% of the screenings during the summer season.

The first group of viewers were very surprised after watching the show.

"Chen Yan's imagination is just too wild. How did he come up with this idea? It gave me goosebumps when I watched the movie."

"The male protagonist is so pitiful; the feeling of just waiting to die is terrible."

"Depp's acting is really good. I've seen him as Edward Scissorhands before, but I didn't expect him to be so brilliant in a serious drama like this!"

With a box office of 231 million on the first day, it's a good start.

Han Sanping only spent 800 million yuan to buy this film, and he was able to break even in less than two weeks. Now he's already clamoring to hold a celebration banquet.

However, in mid-June, a blockbuster film called "Troy" suddenly appeared, raking in 15 million at the box office in just three days.

Another film by Wang Zuxian, "Beautiful Shanghai," which marked his retirement from acting, fared much worse. It was attacked by both "Buried Alive" and "Troy," and was forced to be pulled from theaters within a week, with box office revenue of less than 2 yuan.

This really proves the saying: the eldest brother fought with the second brother and killed the third brother.

The target audiences of "Troy" and "Buried" do not overlap significantly, so "Buried" was not greatly affected at the box office.

After grossing 19.5 million yuan at the box office in July, the film was pulled from theaters on July 1st.

Now Zhang Weiping was completely relieved. "Buried Alive" was no good either. Although it was well-made and the actors performed well, it was useless.

Zhang Weiping laughed all morning in his office, then instructed the entire company to make sure that the publicity for "House of Flying Daggers" was overwhelming.

Zhang Yimou, Zhang Ziyi, Andy Lau, and Kim Sung-woo made their first appearance at Cannes in May to promote "House of Flying Daggers".

The press conference was held in July at the BJ Asia Hotel, and it was much smaller in scale than that for "Heroes".

They also sent an invitation to Chen Yan, but Chen Yan refused this time. He had just finished his duel with Zhang Weiping, and it would be stupid or foolish for him to go up and carry someone else's sedan chair again.

However, the media present that day did not intend to let go of this hot topic, and specifically asked Zhang Yimou which was better if "House of Flying Daggers" was compared with director Chen Yan's "Buried Alive".

These kinds of questions are all traps; there's no right or wrong answer.

If you praise yourself, people will call you arrogant; if you praise others, people will call you a coward.

Zhang Yimou responded politely, saying, "I think both films have their own merits and different styles, so they are not easy to compare." He also urged everyone to focus on the film to be released today.

Indeed, their styles are all different, so there's no point in comparing them.

Chen Yan laughed when he saw the report; it was rare that Zhang Weiping didn't come out and make baseless accusations this time.

At the end of July, several songs produced by Chen Yan Music Studio were quietly released online and simultaneously integrated into China Mobile's ringback tones and China Unicom's custom ringback tones.

Mobile ringback tones were already very popular at this time, with songs like "Mice Love Rice," "Lilacs," "The First Snow of 2002," and "Ten Thousand Reasons" topping the charts one after another.

These songs are playing everywhere, constantly bombarding users' minds.

However, in July, "QQ Love" and "The Pig Song" quietly squeezed into the top 10 of the download charts.

Wang Hu, founder of Taige Impression, keenly noticed the changes in the charts and asked his younger brother, Wang Long, "Whose artists are these two songs from?"

Wang Long checked the singers' names, his brow furrowing: "Liu Yifei, Shu Chang? Aren't they actresses? Why are they singing?"

"Is it the fan effect?" Wang Long meant that the fans' efforts temporarily pushed the song to the top of the download charts, and it would go down after a while.

Wang Hu shook his head: "That's not right."

If it were a company marketing campaign, there would definitely be a massive advertising campaign by now, but so far it has remained quiet, relying solely on organic traffic.

Wang Hu immediately downloaded the two songs with his own money and started playing them. He found that the melodies and lyrics were very simple, and the sweet female voice was lively and agile.

Wang Hu sighed deeply. He was currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Yang Chen, and he only found out in June that this bastard had sold "Mice Love Rice" to five different companies, making the copyright situation a complete mess.

As if things weren't going to go wrong, two more monster singles climbed up the charts.

"Xiaolong, go check and see if we can buy these songs. I think these two songs are going to be hits." Wang Hu pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Okay, brother, I'm going right now."

......

Chen Yan was taken aback when he received Zhang Jincheng's call.

What's with Taige Impression Wang Hu? Why would he want to talk to me? My own company doesn't even make music.

Oh, he realized in the next second that this person must have come for the two songs he had released.

"No need. He should keep the meager amount he has in his pocket."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jincheng immediately replied, "Okay, boss, then I'll just refuse them."

"Okay." Chen Yan hung up the phone.

He sneered, "How dare you dream of something like this. You bought 'Mice Love Rice' for a few thousand dollars, and now you want to snag a bargain?"

Wang Long frowned upon receiving the news and went directly to Wang Hu's office.

"Brother, they rejected us outright. I looked into that company, and it's Chen Yan's company in the industry." Although Wang Long doesn't watch movies much, he's been doing artist liaison work for so long, so he knows some inside information.

"Chen Yan from Beijing Film Academy?" Wang Hu pressed for an answer.

"Yes." Wang Long thought to himself, "Oh dear, how could I have forgotten that? My older brother is a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy's photography department."

Wang Long thought for a moment and said, "Brother, why don't you go back to Beijing Film Academy and look for someone? Maybe this business can still be negotiated."

Wang Hu thought for two seconds and then decisively shook his head: "Forget it, there's no need to follow up on this matter anymore. Chen Yan won't be short of money, and he's a very arrogant person. It's not worth making enemies with him over two songs."

"OK."

After Wang Long left, Wang Hu sat in his chair and remained silent for a long time.

After a long pause, he finally blurted out, "How come Chen Yan knows everything?! Damn!"

......

That week, "The Pig Song" and "Seeking Buddha" climbed to the top three of the download charts, while "Mice Love Rice" remained in first place, but its sales champion position was already teetering on the brink of collapse.

The peak download count of "The Song of Pigs" reached 15, while "Seeking Buddha" was slightly lower, but still occasionally reached over 10.

Chen Yan's company had a net income of 154 million yuan in a week, which left Chen Yan speechless. It was like picking up money from a sack.

The male version of "Seeking Buddha" was released in the second week, and within 24 hours, the number of downloads began to climb rapidly. In just three days, it surpassed the female version of "Seeking Buddha" and successfully topped the charts on Saturday.

Wang Hu listened to the male version of "Seeking Buddha" with his eyes closed in his office, and listened to it on repeat all day, getting more and more hooked.

"This is really good."

"Damn, how is he so awesome?"

Wang Hu sighed, "Forget it, maybe he just got lucky..."

When two more singles were released in the third week, Wang Hu cursed loudly in his office.

"Chen Yan, go to hell!"