July is coming to an end before you know it, and the movies that have attracted more attention this month should be "Parasite", "Painted Skin 2", "Huaxia Partner", and "Search".

"Painted Skin 2" has a box office of 700 million, "Huaxia Partner" has a box office of 500 million, "Parasite" has a box office of 300 million, and "Search" has the lowest box office, only more than 100 million, but this movie is quite out of the circle and has a high popularity, and it is a movie with a good reputation in recent years.

By the end of July, the weather was even hotter, and the competition for Chinese-language films was even hotter.

At half past six o'clock in the evening of July 28, the sun had not yet set, and the street lights had not yet turned on.

In Fenghua Cinema in the Yenching DC District, a grand premiere is being held, and "Thai Embarrassment" is about to officially premiere.

Dozens of paparazzi took pictures with cameras.

The red carpet at the entrance of the cinema was spread for more than 50 meters, and there was an endless stream of stars who came to attend the premiere, which was very lively.

Xu Zheng, Huang Bo, and Baoqiang stood at the gate, welcoming the star artists who came to cheer.

Xu Zheng didn't wear a hat, revealing a round bald head, his face was happy, and his eyes were about to smile.

Huang Bo was dressed in a black suit, with black leather shoes, and also made a three-seven hairstyle with all combed back, which looked very formal.

Baoqiang was also very formal, observing Xu Zheng from time to time, and occasionally showing a clear smile.

Li Shengyao did not stand at the door, nor did he wait for the stars in the theater.

He was sitting in the VIP lounge of the studio, watching an old Hong Kong movie on the tablet.

"Parasite" is a thing of the past, and he was thinking about what movie to make next, and he was hesitant for a while, so he watched the movie to relax.

"Parasite" has a bumper harvest at the box office and word of mouth, and Li Shengyao has received a lot of invitations some time ago, including domestic and foreign, some banquets, some film awards, and some college speeches, as well as TV interviews.

In late July, Lee was very busy, which annoyed him a little, and he didn't like to spend time on other people.

If it's making a movie, he'll have fun.

But flying around, giving speeches, being guests, he didn't think it made any sense.

By the end of July, there were still many invitations, but this time he turned them all down, on the grounds that "Thai Embarrassment", which Fenghua mainly invested, was going to be released.

Every year, the summer season is a schedule for film production companies to compete for, and for mainland films, August is the top priority.

Generally speaking, August is the month of domestic film protection.

Those domestic movies that want to show their strength will often choose to be released in August.

On August 1, 2012, the films released in the mainland included "Thai Embarrassment", "The Sea of People", "The Wind Listener", "Please Call Me a Hero", "Pyongyang's Covenant", "Adventures in the Mysterious World", "Joy in the Sky" and "BMW Rhapsody".

Among them, the most anticipated movie by the outside world is naturally "The Wind Listener", which has Liang Chaowei and Zhou Xun.

Moreover, the filmmaker also used the male and female protagonists to hype, saying that Liang Chaowei and Zhou Xun had a relationship between the upper and lower floors on Hong Kong Island, saying that Zhou Xun's iron tree blossomed and was pregnant with Liang Chaowei's child, and that Carina Lau slapped Zhou Xun on the set.

In short, the hype of this movie is very low-level.

Liang Chaowei is running for five, Zhou Xun is running for four, and at such an age, emotional problems are still hyped, and the promotion of the movie is simply in the brain.

Who is interested in watching an old man and a lady fall in love?

Facts have proved that neither Liang Chaowei nor Zhou Xun are big traffickers, and such hype has no effect.

The producers of "The Wind Listener" tried their best to hype, but when it came to the release period, the highest film schedule was still "Thai Embarrassment".

Fenghua and China Film teamed up to protect "Thai Embarrassment", and many people were dissatisfied, but they didn't dare to say it.

"The Wind Listener" has already held its premiere, and the word of mouth is okay.

In this regard, Xu Zheng and Huang Bobaoqiang were both very nervous, and they were worried that "Thai Embarrassment" would be suppressed by "The Wind Listener" throughout the whole process.

"Don't worry, "The Wind Listener" has a box office of more than 100 million, and "Thai Embarrassment" is at the level of one billion."

Lee should be the most confident person.

Now that "Thai Embarrassment" is holding its premiere, the star artists know that this movie is the main investment of Fenghua, and they are very face-saving, and there are many people who come to watch the movie.

However, Li Shengyao does not plan to come forward now, so as not to steal the limelight from Xu Zheng and Huang Bobao.

These three are actually ambitious people, and Li Shengyao doesn't care about vanity on the surface, but these three are not necessarily.

Besides, he had already watched "Thai Embarrassment", and he didn't want to watch it again, so he hid here.

He plans to wait for the movie to finish and when everyone goes to the celebration banquet, he will come forward again and exchange feelings with Han Sanping, Lao Mouzi and other bigwigs.

Two and a half hours later, the premiere of "Thai Embarrassment" ended, and all the star artists moved to the famous Yenching Hotel, where they had a celebration banquet.

Lee Shengyao passed this time.

In the crowd, Xu Zheng's bald head became brighter, and beads of sweat could be seen sliding down the top of his head.

"Director Li, everyone's response is very good."

He looked very excited.

When Huang Bo and Baoqiang saw Li Shengyao coming, they immediately greeted him, and then stood and listened to the teachings.

Li Shengyao smiled and pointed: "Actually, you don't have to care about the reputation of the premiere, because even if the movie is not good, those who come to cheer will still say nice things, and the premiere is a means of hype."

Let more people know that the movie is coming soon, and as for other things, you don't need to worry too much about it.

Of course, "Thai Embarrassment" is very good, you keep your mentality, there will be more surprises in the future. ”

When Xu Zheng heard this, he nodded again and again.

Han Sanping walked over at this time, and he admired it, "Director Li, your vision is really amazing, this movie is very funny, it will definitely explode." ”

Yu Dong followed, he looked at Li Shengyao, his eyes were full of emotion, as if Li Shengyao was his father.

"Director Li, we're waiting for your decision."

Before Yu Dong invited Li Shengyao to make a film for Bo Na, Li Shengyao has not responded.

He had actually made up his mind that he planned to reject Yu Dong.

may be able to earn tens of millions of dollars by helping Bo Na make films, but Bo Na wants to make influential films that can make money in beautiful countries, that is, to make commercial films.

Lee Shengyao, on the other hand, wants to make films that are both commercial and artistic.

He is making movies now, and the first factor is to make a good movie, whether he can win awards and whether he can improve his status in the industry.

The second factor is the box office.

It's like he watched "Parasite" and won the grand prize at Cannes, then the task is done.

As for the box office, it doesn't cost money.

But now it's the celebration of the premiere of "Thai Embarrassment", and there is no need to say something to disappoint the fun.

Li Shengyao planned to wait until the end of the two days and make a phone call to Yu Dong to express his attitude.

At this moment, Feng Xiaogang came over with a wine glass, he grinned, revealing a mouthful of big yellow teeth, "Director Li, this new movie you invested in is really good, awesome, I think maybe the comedy films in the mainland will be this model in the future." ”

"Thai Embarrassment" is a road comedy, which is very different from the Fung comedy of Little Steel Cannon.

Feng's comedy, or some of the old Yanjing's comedies, is very life-like and has a bit of cold humor.

The language is very well designed, and it is often possible to burst some buzzwords.

For a long time, such comedies were the most popular comedies in the mainland film industry.

Later, Ning Hao's crazy series gave the mainland people one more choice.

More noisy, more adventures, more strange people, incredible things, combined into a funny and poignant story.

Since then, Feng's comedy, or comedy based on Yenching culture, has not been the first choice of the mainland people.

Including the later Happy Twist series, it is very different from Feng's comedy, and it is more nonsensical comedy.

Feng Xiaogang's words may not be sincere, but they are true.

The cold humor of the disciples of the future compound will not work, and what is popular is a hilarious comedy.

Li Shengyao smiled and nodded, "I'm also optimistic about such a comedy routine." ”

When Feng Xiaogang heard this, he paused slightly, and then smiled and echoed a few times, but he was a little disapproving.

Playing comedy in the mainland, he is the big brother.

Li Shengyao is indeed awesome, he can win awards, and the movie can be sold all over the world.

But when it comes to comedy, he feels like he has more of a voice.

"Thai Embarrassment" is too noisy and noisy in his opinion, and it is difficult to be elegant.

is still a script written by Wang Shuo's eldest brother, and the comedy with Beijing films is more interesting.

At this time, Han Sanping asked: "Director Li, are you really optimistic that "Thai Embarrassment" can break one billion?" ”

When the words fell, everyone looked over.

Han Sanping had expectant eyes, and the others were much more complicated, although they didn't show it, they all smiled in their hearts.

They don't believe that "Thai Embarrassment" can break one billion, and "If You Are Honest, Do Not Disturb" is only more than 400 million.

Li Shengyao nodded and said seriously: "There is no billion, there are eight or nine billion." ”

"Hahahaha."

The crowd laughed.

"Cheers to the billion-dollar box office of "Thai Embarrassment"."

Li Shengyao can vaguely feel everyone's thoughts, except for Han Sanping, everyone else is afraid that they are all thinking about watching jokes.

But he is too lazy to care, time will tell.

……

Feng Xiaogang left the celebration banquet of "Thai Embarrassment", thinking of Xu Zheng, Huang Bo, and Baoqiang's excited appearance tonight, as if they had really won a billion box office, he couldn't help but pout.

For mainland comedy, the big brother must be him.

Unless Zhou Xingxing comes out, otherwise, he feels that everyone else is a rookie in front of him, and he can't get on the stage, which is not a grade.

"Ringing ringing!"

The mobile phone rang, it was Wang Zhonglei.

"Xiaogang, how is "Thai Embarrassment"?"

"It's okay, I think it's similar to "People in Embarrassment", with a box office of more than 100 million at most."

"So little box office? Li Shengyao is talking about a billion. ”

Wang Zhonglei is very concerned about the box office of "Thai Embarrassment", because Huayi is the main investor in "Painted Skin 2", which was released last month.

"Painted Skin 2" broke a lot of records and got 700 million.

Recently, Huayi's stock has been rising steadily, and the Wang brothers have made a lot of money.

Wang Zhonglei took a closer look at the next movie schedule, and felt that "Painted Skin 2" had the hope of becoming the crown movie of the year, so that Huayi could continue to tell stories to fool shareholders.

Hearing Li Shengyao say that "Thai Embarrassment" could get one billion, he was startled, afraid that the limelight would be stolen by "Thai Embarrassment", in which case, their storytelling plan would be interrupted.

At this time, Wang Zhonglei was very happy with the small steel cannon, but he still had to make sure.

"Li Shengyao is good at writing comedies in the magnesium country, but not in mainland comedies, "Thai Embarrassment" is a noisy and noisy movie, similar to "People in Embarrassment", "People in Embarrassment" only has a lot of box office."

In Li Shengyao's previous life, "People in Embarrassment" was only more than 30 million.

In this time and space, due to Fenghua and China Film's high-ranking films, "People in Embarrassment" got 100 million.

However, compared with Xiaogang Cannon's "If You Are Honest, Do Not Disturb", it really can't be compared.

Wang Zhonglei breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this.

"Okay, you can just say that, I believe your judgment, in the mainland, you are the big brother of comedy movies."

……

Feng Xiaogang didn't care too much about "Thai Embarrassment", he went to the premiere of "Thai Embarrassment", completely for the sake of Li Shengyao's face, not because of Xu Zheng, Huang Bo, and Baoqiang.

But four days later, "Thai Embarrassment" was officially released, and when he saw the latest newspaper, he was stupid.

"Thai Embarrassment" was released on August 1, and the film schedule on the premiere day was 35%, five points higher than "The Wind Listener".

In terms of box office, "Thai Embarrassment" got 38 million box office on its premiere day, and "Listener to the Wind" only had 15 million box office, and the two films are not at the same level at all.

And other movies are completely cannon fodder, and there are no more than five million.

"Fuck, "Thai Embarrassment" won't really explode, right?"

He is not worried about being slapped in the face, he has long been beaten in the face, he is even more worried that comedies like "Thai Embarrassment" will occupy the mainstream, and his Feng comedy will be marginalized in the future.

August 1 was Wednesday, the second day of the release of "Thai Embarrassment", that is, Thursday, the box office rose and received 40 million, and the third day, Friday, performed even better, receiving 43 million.

By Saturday and Sunday, the box office was 50 million and 48 million respectively.

According to such statistics, "Thai Embarrassment" received 219 million in the first five days.

This box office trend is even more fierce than "Painted Skin 2".

And the word-of-mouth of "Thai Embarrassment" is still completely explosive, and it belongs to the type of national praise.

Xu Zheng, Huang Bo, and Baoqiang had a good reputation in the past, as well as the advantages of a high audience.

The three of them may not have many fans, but the popularity of passers-by is very good.

In the second week, the performance of "Thai Embarrassment" was even more violent, even on weekdays, there were about 50 million.

In the second week, the box office of "Thai Embarrassment" reached 430 million, and the total box office came to 640 million.

At this point, even people with an IQ of only 60 can understand that the box office record of 700 million domestic films just set by "Painted Skin 2" is about to be broken by "Thai Embarrassment".

And Thailand is running for a billion box office.

Lee's previous prophecy came true.

Xu Zheng, Huang Bo, and Baoqiang were all stupid, and the three of them worked harder in publicity, flying all over the country and running all over the country.

And for Feng Xiaogang, things are not so good.

In the Huayi headquarters building, Feng Xiaogang, Wang Zhonglei, and Wang Zhongjun each sat on a sofa.

Feng Xiaogang's face was pale, his body was shaking, and he seemed to be having a nightmare.

Wang Zhonglei and Wang Zhongjun are both full of alcohol, and they have just drunk a lot of wine, but no matter how good and expensive the wine is, it can't dilute the depression of the two of them.

The two of them were still depressed.

Feng Xiaogang felt that he was a phoenix without feathers, and the sense of superiority he had always had was gone, and he collapsed weakly on the sofa.

The sofa was big and soft, definitely leather, but he didn't feel very good, as if there were nails in the sofa, and he panicked and couldn't help but twist around.

Wang Zhonglei quickly twisted the small steel cannon.

Wang Zhongjun was relatively calmer, he glanced at his younger brother and the little steel cannon, "This is fate, there is nothing to say, "Painted Skin 2" has risen a wave, we have made a lot of money, we should be satisfied."

Xiaogang, you don't have to be discouraged, whether "Thai Embarrassment" is one billion or 1.2 billion, it has nothing to do with you.

"Do Not Disturb 12" is more than 400 million, you still have a large audience, we can continue to produce "Do Not Disturb 345", and you can make money just as much as you make a drama, "Assembly Number" and "Tangshan Earthquake" are the top three movies of the year.

As long as your movie has a reputation and box office, you are not afraid of losing money or not, and the stock market can make up for it, we will not blame you. ”

Hua Yi no longer cares about the small accounts at the box office, they care more about whether the movie can let them tell stories and fool shareholders.

Wang Zhongjun's words restored a lot of morale to Xiao Gangcang, and he thought that his new movie would be released in the Chinese New Year file, about the big events of 1942, and also invited Hollywood actor Adrian. Brody, maybe this time it can be like "Assembly" and "Tangshan Earthquake", with a good reputation and a high box office.

Time flies, and when Xiao Gangcang planned to ignore "Thai Embarrassment", "Thai Embarrassment" kept appearing in the news.

The total box office of "Thai Embarrassment" has exceeded 1.3 billion.

Xu Zheng's bald head invited the mature woman Yingluck.

"People in Embarrassment 3" is being conceived, and it is still an old partner, Xu Zheng and Baoqiang.

Fenghua invested in "People in Embarrassment 3", and Li Shengyao claimed that it was still a billion-level movie.

The box office of "Thai Embarrassment" is almost three times that of "If You Are Honest, Do Not Disturb", and seeing the bright "1.3 billion", the little steel cannon is really going to close itself.

He is now convinced that Fung's comedy is indeed going to be abandoned by the audience.

In the future, I can only make a drama.

……

"Thai Embarrassment" is so popular, except for Xu Zheng, Huang Bo, and Baoqiang, who are so popular, Li Shengyao has once again become the focus of the industry.

No one believed that with so many new films, "Thai Embarrassment" could get a box office of 1.3 billion.

And Li Shengyao calculated it, and he concluded early that this was a billion-level movie.

I have to say that Li Dadao's business vision is really strong.

Many media have calculated that "Thai Embarrassment" is 1.3 billion, and Li Shengyao earns the most, with nearly 400 million at the box office alone.

Even if "Parasite" doesn't make much money, you can still make money by investing, I have to say that it's really fierce.

"People in Embarrassment 3" is in preparation, and many people want to perform in it, Xu Zheng is a little floating, or Li Shengyao pulls it back to determine the position of Baoqiang's second male.

Li Shengyao had long rejected Bo Na's invitation to film, and at this time, Yu Dong saw Li Shengyao's business vision again, and he couldn't wait to tie Li Shengyao over and film for Bo Na.

He quickly dialed Li Shengyao's phone again and expressed his invitation to film.

This time, he raised the conditions and directly gave Lee Shengyao a director salary of 50 million US dollars, hoping that Lee Shengyao would make a commercial film suitable for Lao Mei to watch for Bo Na.

Spielberg can't get the director's salary of 50 million US dollars.

Only when Cameron directed "Avatar", he got a profit dividend, which exceeded 50 million US dollars.

The price is really high.

But for Lee Shengyao, it's not that important.

Because he is the boss, he is not short of money, and he can make a lot of money by investing in movies himself.

Just like "Parasite", the global box office is 310 million US dollars, and he can get 80 million US dollars, in addition to the follow-up streaming media copyright fees, disc rental fees, adding up these bits and pieces of money, "Parasite" will definitely bring him more than 100 million US dollars.

Fifty million is a lot in the eyes of others.

In Li Shengyao's opinion, it is really average, not to mention making a film for Bona, and the film copyright does not belong to Fenghua.

"Mr. Yu, it's really not good, I already have some ideas in the future, I won't make pure commercial films, and I won't stick to the old American market."

"You already have an idea?"

Li Shengyao actually does not object to Bo Na making money in the Lao American stock market, but he has no time and no interest in helping Bo Na make films.

He has had some ideas lately.

"Yes, I've already decided.

If you really want to make a name for yourself in the United States, I can sell you the rights to "The Hangover 4".

Or "Hurricane Rescue 4", those movies that Fenghua cooperated with Cheng Long, the follow-up copyrights can be sold to you.

These movies work well and can make money.

Personally, I don't really want to make purely commercial films, I want to make films that are both commercial and artistic, like "Parasite". ”

When Yu Dong heard this, he sighed, "Okay, keep in touch, I'll have a meeting here to discuss it." ”

Li Shengyao hung up the phone, then took out two notebooks, and then wrote down the main line of the movie in his memory.

He has already won the Palme d'Or twice, Cannes will not be able to give him a third Palme d'Or in a short time, and Berlin and Venice will inevitably have to save face, and will not say that they will give the grand prize if they participate.

In 2013, it was much more difficult to win the three major awards in Europe than in the past.

Li Shengyao understands this matter, he doesn't plan to force the "best movie" this time, he has an idea, he wants to push a few people in the Chinese film industry to win actor awards, which requires finding a few very good roles that are conducive to actors.

(End of chapter)