The reason why Zhou Xingchi and Chen Weisheng appeared at the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong International Film Festival is because some of their works were shortlisted for the main competition unit of this year's film festival, but being shortlisted and winning awards are completely different things.

In the eyes of the media, the other entries at the Hong Kong International Film Festival this time are just running along, and the films competing for the highest gold dragon award can only be born in the two opening ceremony films.

It is not surprising that the media has such an idea, because filmmakers from other countries and regions, including those from other countries and regions who have come from overseas, have the same view as the Hong Kong media about the ownership of the first Golden Dragon Awards.

It's not that the film festival is held in Hong Kong, and the first Golden Dragon Award must be awarded to Hong Kong films, but because there is so much to say about the two movies "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Ghost Blowing the Lamp".

"Ghost Blowing the Lantern" as a popular tomb robbery novel in the entire Chinese-speaking region, adapted by Lin Youlun himself, directed by Hong Kong's most famous commercial film director Wang Jing, and the film cast is also extremely strong, the actor Yuan Yuan has a large number of fans in Japan, Hong Jinbao is a long-term well-known action superstar in Southeast Asia, and even Cheng Long, who has made a name for himself in Hollywood, is willing to come to the film to play a cameo role, plus the heroine Li Jiaxin, who has the most beautiful Hong Kong sister crown, Such a lineup is also rare in the Hong Kong film industry, where blockbusters are frequent.

The film was filmed in the western desert of the mainland, using the most advanced special effects CG technology, and the production cost of the whole film was close to 250 million, making it the largest investment in Hong Kong outside of "Godzilla" so far.

Thanks to the influence of the original novel, "Ghost Blows the Lantern" has attracted too much attention during the filming, and this Hong Kong Film Festival has attracted many overseas tourists. A large part of these people are just to be able to see "Ghost Blowing the Lantern" in advance. The film's movie tickets during the film festival were also sold at a very high price. And it's priceless.

Of course, as a film positioned as a commercial blockbuster, under normal circumstances, there is not much chance of winning awards at the film festival, and the main reason why "Ghost Blows the Lantern" can be so optimistic is because the Hong Kong International Film Festival attaches much more importance to commercial films than other international film festivals.

The Golden Dragon Award is an award born based on the Hong Kong International Film Festival, and its evaluation criteria will inevitably be closer to the theme of the film festival. The award judges are composed of a large number of film actors who are not very professional, and no one will be surprised if "Ghost Blows the Lantern" wins this year's Golden Dragon Award.

Of course, no one knows that "Ghost Blows the Lantern" has actually withdrawn from the competition for the top award in advance under the instruction of Lin Youlun.

Lin Youlun did this, naturally to make way for the Hong Kong version of "The Shawshank Redemption".

is also a popular contender for the top prize, "The Shawshank Redemption" certainly can't be compared with "Ghost Blowing the Lantern" in terms of investment, but it is not much better in terms of casting.

The gimmick of Zhou Yunfa and Huang Qiusen, the two major Golden Statue actors, playing on the same stage, has long been hyped by the media, and compared with Wang Jing, who has always only made commercial films, Lin Lingdong already has a little golden man for the best director of the Academy Awards. When it comes to the experience of winning awards, he definitely has a lot more experience than Wang Jing.

Of course, it doesn't mean that a movie with a good script, good actors, and a good director will definitely win awards. The real deciding factor is timing.

Just like the original "The Shawshank Redemption" met "Forrest Gump" at the Oscars, the two movies are equally excellent, in terms of the profundity of the film, "The Shawshank Redemption" is even better, but the Oscar finally awarded the award to "Forrest Gump", the reason is because the movie "Forrest Gump" is more in line with the main theme of American society at that time, and "The Shawshank Redemption" Although it is about human nature and freedom, it also reveals the ugly status quo of society.

The Hong Kong version of "The Shawshank Redemption" is favored by everyone this time, and a very important reason is that it is close to another theme of the Hong Kong International Film Festival - internationality.

At the press conference for the establishment of the Golden Dragon Awards, Lin Youlun emphasized several times that the positioning of the Golden Dragon Awards is an international award, which does not mean that if you award the award to a foreign film, it will be considered to have completed internationalization, but that the award-winning film should be widely accepted and recognized by audiences from all over the world in the world.

Although the Hong Kong version of "The Shawshank Redemption" is independently invested by Hong Kong people, the script is adapted from a famous American novel, and this movie has the inherent possibility of being accepted by overseas audiences.

On the red carpet of the opening ceremony, the people of these two films naturally became the focus of the media.

On the side of "Ghost Blowing the Lantern", Wang Jing, Yuan Di, Hong Jinbao, and Li Jiaxin appeared together, at first they walked side by side, and then Yuan Di and Hong Jinbao walked fast, and gradually walked to the front, Wang Jing fell in the middle, and Li Jiaxin walked the slower, because she often had to stop and cooperate with the media to take pictures, and at the same time would simply answer one or two questions from the media.

When asked questions related to Lin Youlun, Li Jiaxin just smiled and kept her mouth shut, only when asked about topics related to the movie "Ghost Blowing the Lantern", she would answer selectively.

Wang Jing was also stopped by the media several times, and when asked if he had any thoughts about the Golden Dragon Award this time, he directly made a joke.

"Didn't you say that? If you win the award, you will find Wang Jiawei, and if you make money, you will find Wang Jing, so winning the award is secondary to me, and I am more concerned about the box office of this movie. ”

When asked about his expectations for the box office of "Ghost Blowing the Lantern", Wang Jing was even more confident.

"Our goal is temporarily set on "Godzilla", although I admit that in terms of special effects, "Ghost Blowing the Lantern" is difficult to surpass "Godzilla", but compared to "Godzilla" such a pure disaster film, "Ghost Blowing the Lantern" is much stronger in terms of story and watchability, and "Ghost Blowing the Lantern" is not like a martial arts film, this kind of adventure and tomb robbery theme film is easy to be accepted by Western audiences, so this time we not only want to create a good box office record in Asia, but also hope to achieve a good result in the North American and European markets."

Wang Jing's bold statement in front of the media is a publicity strategy on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also based on an expected deduction of the box office of "Ghost Blowing the Lantern". Because of the original novel, "Ghost Blowing the Lantern" should have enough guarantee at the box office in Chinese-speaking areas, and overseas, especially in the North American market, "Ghost Blowing the Lantern" also played the oriental version of "Indiana Jones" to promote, this kind of adventure film has been endured in the West, and it is a story that takes place in ancient China, which can stimulate the interest of the audience, as long as the distribution theater is willing to cooperate, it is not delusional to harvest a higher box office.

The media likes this kind of answer, if the box office of "Ghost Blows the Lantern" really achieves the goal of tone, everyone will naturally be happy; If the box office fails to meet the expected target, the matter can be hyped up again.

Many directors didn't dare to talk too much before the release of the film, just because they were afraid that the media and the public would see the joke afterwards, but Wang Jing had no worries at all this time.

Although "Ghost Blows the Lantern" is directed by Wang Jing, when it comes to this movie, the first thing that comes to everyone's mind will only be Lin Youlun's work, if the film does not achieve good results, Wang Jing will definitely be unlucky, and it will definitely not be the most unlucky.

Anyway, when the sky falls, there is still a tall man on top, and of course Wang Jing is unscrupulous.

Seeing that Wang Jing answered the question so happily, the reporters on both sides of the question were even more energetic, and they all wanted to extract more information from Wang Jing's mouth, but Wang Fatzi is not a fool and will not be fooled so easily. He just set the box office of "Ghost Blowing the Lantern" on the same level as "Godzilla", in fact, this was said from Lin Youlun's mouth, he was just responsible for paraphrasing, as for other aspects, he didn't dare to open his mouth indiscriminately, once the media grabbed the handle, it would be miserable later.

I don't know if the organizer deliberately arranged it or a coincidence, the four main creators of "Ghost Blowing the Lantern" just got off the red carpet, and the director and two leading actors of "The Shawshank Redemption" followed and stepped on the red carpet.

There is also a big beauty Li Jiaxin on the side of "Ghost Blowing the Lamp" as an embellishment, and "The Shawshank Redemption" is just three men, but these three men stand together, and the reaction of the media on both sides of the red carpet is not weaker than just now.

The combination of Zhou Runfa, Huang Qiusen, and Lin Lingdong can be called the highest "gold content" on the red carpet of today's opening ceremony, and all three of them have won the highest honor at the Academy Awards.

The questions that Wang Jing encountered on the red carpet before, when he arrived at Lin Lingdong, he just changed his statement, and although Lin Lingdong's answer and Wang Jing were very different in content, they both had one thing in common, that is, they were not shocking and endless.

"The theme of this movie was chosen by Mr. Lin, and I, as well as the two leading actors of the film, have put a lot of effort into this movie, I can say very responsibly that this will be my best work, let me make the same type of movie in the future, it is absolutely impossible to surpass it."

Few directors will say that a certain work they have made is their peak, and more people will say that they will say that it is the next one when asked about their best work, like Lin Lingdong, who said that he will never be able to make a work that surpasses "The Shawshank Redemption" in the future, and the reaction of the media can be imagined.

Of course, unlike Wang Jing's prediction of the box office of "Ghost Blowing the Lantern" just now, Lin Lingdong's words were not a publicity strategy planned in advance, this is really what he really thinks in his heart.

What the media didn't expect was that the two leading actors of "The Shawshank Redemption" also jointly recognized Lin Lingdong's statement. (To be continued......)