Chapter 118 Theater Reform and All-Star Lineup
After Liu Zhou and Zeng Li played three dance pieces together crazily, both of them were sweating profusely.

Satisfied Liu Zhou lit a cigarette for himself. Every time at this time, Liu Zhou was particularly obsessed with the smell of cigarettes.

"Lizi, why do you feel your waist and abdomen have become stronger?"

Zeng Li had just recovered some strength at this time. She pushed her hair, which was wet with sweat and stuck to her face, behind her ears and said in a hoarse voice:

"What do you think? In the crew of Hero, I was hanging on wires every day and learning martial arts moves every day. Look, I have abdominal muscles now."

However, when she saw Liu Zhou's smirk, she immediately understood the meaning of his question. She pinched the soft flesh on his waist and turned it ninety degrees.

"Hiss! You are trying to murder your husband!"

"Who made you have such an improper mind?"

"You're blaming me for this? Who was singing all the high notes during the song just now?"

"I won't talk to you anymore. I'm going to take a shower."

After saying that, Zeng Li struggled to stand up and walked towards the bathroom.

Liu Zhou put out his cigarette, stood up and followed.

After taking a shower, Liu Zhou went into the kitchen and cooked a few dishes for Zeng Li.

Zeng Li had a very good appetite and actually ate two large bowls of rice.

After dinner, the two sat quietly in the courtyard of the villa and chatted.

"Pear, what are you going to do next?"

"I don't want to do anything. I want to take a break. I'm exhausted from filming Hero."

"Well, it's good to take a break for a while."

Zeng Li made great sacrifices during the filming of "Hero".

Not only was it physically tiring, but she also invested more than a year in this film.

In other words, from last year's Spring Festival Gala to the release of "Hero", she had no works released.

Now that I think about it, it was fortunate that she participated in last year’s Spring Festival Gala. If it hadn’t been for that Spring Festival Gala that completely consolidated Zeng Li’s popularity, she would inevitably have been slowly forgotten by the audience after two years without any new works.

If Zeng Li wants to work, Liu Zhou will make a movie specifically for her, so that he doesn't have to suffer from the dilemma of making a decision and not knowing what movie to make next.

But since she wants to rest, then let her rest. Liu Zhou doesn't want her to be so tired.

At this time, Zeng Li arched her head in Liu Zhou's arms, sighed and said:
"Zhou Zhou, I feel like my relationship with Ziyi will never be the same again."

"What's wrong? Are you having a conflict?"

"No, but I could feel that she was distancing herself from me. During the filming, she was always stealing the show. She hardly stayed with me during the long time I was on the set."

"Li Zi, let her be. The entertainment industry is a place of fame and fortune. Zhang Ziyi may no longer be the Zhang Ziyi she was in school."

Liu Zhou could probably guess some of Zhang Ziyi's thoughts.

How could she, who was already ambitious, be willing to be suppressed by Zeng Li?
In history, she even refused to accept Zhang Manyu's role and frequently stole the spotlight during filming. She even used her connections to delete some of Zhang Manyu's scenes. The conflict between the two also started at this time.

Later in Wong Kar-wai's movie "2046", Zhang Manyu, who was originally the heroine, became a guest star, while Zhang Ziyi, who was originally a supporting role, became the heroine, and the conflict between the two was officially made public.

Zhang Manyu, who has a straightforward personality, said directly in an interview with the media:

I will not work with her no matter how much the salary is.

Later, Zhang Ziyi won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress for her role in "The Grandmaster", and the award was presented by Zhang Manyu and Andy Lau. However, Zhang Manyu did not shy away from presenting the award to Zhang Ziyi in front of the camera.

Zhang Ziyi even used such tactics without any scruples against veteran film queens, let alone her own classmate?

It would be strange if she could accept it!

"I know, but it's a bit hard to believe that a good classmate suddenly became like this."

"Just be sad for a while, and let it go after today. You have to know that everyone changes. It's hard to make friends in the entertainment industry."

Liu Zhou sighed slightly in his heart. He felt that he had protected Zeng Li too well and did not let her experience any of the dangers of the entertainment industry. As a result, she is still as innocent as she was in school.

"Well, I'll listen to you, as long as you stay by my side."

For a period of time afterwards, Liu Zhou spent all his time with Zeng Li except when he went to the company to handle some matters.

The two seemed to have returned to their college days, living carefree lives in the small courtyard of Dengcao Hutong.

Time slowly came to June, and the cinema reform document that had been brewing for a long time was officially issued.

The document instructs that the cinema chain system reform be fully launched, with the first batch of 30 cinema chains to be established.

It also allows the establishment of cinema chains across provinces and regions, and allows domestic companies and enterprises to join cinema chains or establish cinema chains on their own.

With the official implementation of this document, major companies that had been preparing for a long time began to put up their flags.

First of all, the most powerful China Film Group Corporation established the Beijing New Film Association, which spans Beijing, Tianjin, northern Hebei Province, eastern Shandong Province, western Shanxi Province and other North China regions and the three northeastern provinces, becoming the largest cinema chain in the north.

Then China Film Group and Star Media Group cooperated to establish China Film Star Cinema Line. The first batch of 23 theaters with 48 screens spanned Beijing, Central Plains, western Jiangxi, Fujian, Anhui Province and eastern Guangdong, becoming the most extensive cinema chain across regions.

This cinema chain developed rapidly in the following years and became the number one cinema chain in the country, until it was later surpassed by Wanda.

Next came the Shanghai Film Group, which established the Shanghai United Cinema Chain, which is mainly distributed in the three wealthy provinces and one city in East China.

Shanghai United Cinema Chain ranked first in box office revenue for five consecutive years and was known as the "film industry aircraft carrier" in East China.

In another box office granary, Guangdong Province, three cinema chains were established. Later, in order to avoid vicious competition, Zhujiang Film Studio and China Film Corporation cooperated to jointly establish China Film Shinkansen, which became the largest cinema chain company in South China.

Finally, there is Chengdu Pacific, which mainly operates in the southwest region. These cinema chains were the largest ones at the beginning.

Among them, China Film Group alone accounts for more than half of the market share, demonstrating its dominant position to the fullest.

Although private enterprises are allowed to enter the cinema industry at this time, they have no place at all.

Firstly, it is very difficult to obtain this entry qualification. Even though the 30 cinema chains have a lot of market share, if it is spread across the whole country, it is not enough for the large state-owned companies to share.

Secondly, private enterprises did not have cinema resources at that time, and these had almost been divided up.

Thirdly, cinema chains are also an asset-intensive industry. At this time, no private film and television company has the strength to run a cinema chain. Even Liu Zhou does not have this strength for the time being.

The first cinema chain established by a private enterprise was not until 2005 when Wanda established the Wanda Cinema Line based on their commercial complexes spread across the country.

This major transformation of the cinema chain was not finalized until the end of July.

But for Liu Zhou, he is just a spectator. Although he is itching to try, he has to lie low and wait for the opportunity.

In the more than one month since Zeng Li returned to the capital, with Liu Zhou's constant feeding and nourishment, her skin has regained its fair color and her figure has become round and smooth again.

Today's female celebrities don't pursue thinness as a form of beauty. If they are too thin, it would look a bit awkward when acting in costume dramas, as they simply can't support the ancient headdresses.

In the 1980s, 1990s and even the first decade of the new century, none of the beauties in ancient costumes in film and television dramas were as skinny as those in later generations.

After taking a break for more than a month, Zeng Li is ready to make a comeback, but not to act in a movie, but to act in a drama again.

Zhang Chen couldn't stop smiling when he heard the news. With the joining of a big star like Zeng Li, the appeal of Zhoushan Repertory Theatre will be further increased.

This time, Zhang Chen is planning to do something big and wants to gather Zeng Li, Qin Hao, Zhang Tong and Tang Wei together to stage a drama with an all-star cast.

Because of this incident, Zhang Chen even found Liu Zhou and wanted to ask him to write a script specifically for him.

Liu Zhou happened to be free at the time, so he agreed to Zhang Chen's request.

Afterwards, Liu Zhou was also thinking about which drama would be more suitable.

Since it is an all-star lineup, the quality of the drama cannot be too bad, it must even be excellent, and strive to make it another signature of the drama troupe.

In addition, there had to be multiple female characters, which made Liu Zhou at a loss as to which play was suitable.

This time it wasn’t because there were too many choices, but because Liu Zhou couldn’t think of any at all.

The truth is that Liu Zhou knows very few plays.

Just when Liu Zhou was racking his brains, Zhong Lifang suddenly called him and told him that the novel "The Lawsuit" had been found.

Upon hearing the news, Liu Zhou temporarily put aside the drama and rushed to the studio to inquire about the details.

"Mr. Zhong, where did you find this novel?"

"In Novel Monthly, what a coincidence, they just reprinted it from Fujian Literature this month. No wonder we couldn't find it after searching for so long."

"Very good, have you contacted the author?"

"Not yet. We will let you know as soon as we find it."

"Then put aside the other things you are doing and get the film and television adaptation rights for the novel "The Lawsuit" first."

"Okay, Mr. Liu, we have obtained the author's contact information from Novel Monthly, and we should be able to obtain the copyright of this novel soon."

After Zhong Lifang left, Liu Zhou's mouth corners couldn't help but curl up slightly.

The reason why Liu Zhou attaches great importance to this novel is that the movie adapted from this novel is called "Assembly"!
The reason why Feng Kuzi was so popular in later generations was that, in addition to "A World Without Thieves" which brought him into the billion-dollar box office club, "Assembly" and "Aftershock" were the movies that truly established his divinity.

"A World Without Thieves" is also adapted from a novel, but Feng Kuzi had already acquired the adaptation rights as early as last year, so it is too late for Liu Zhou to act now.

It was Zhang Guoli who first discovered the novel "The Lawsuit" and wanted to buy the adaptation rights to the novel and make it into a TV series.

But later it was seen by Feng Kuzi, who asked for it and planned to make it into a movie.

Liu Zhou's luck was relatively good. The novel "The Lawsuit" was only published by the author in April this year, and then it was reprinted in "Novel Monthly" in July this year, which just happened to hit Zhong Lifang's target.

Now Liu Zhou has intercepted his "Assembly". As for the movie "Aftershock", Liu Zhou can also go to cooperate with Tangshan in advance.

Without these two movies, Liu Zhou wanted to see what Feng Kuzi could do in the future.
If he can produce two more hits, Liu Zhou will acknowledge it and admit that Feng Kuazi is awesome.

Liu Zhou may not be good at military themes, but he is not required to shoot "Assembly". There are many directors in China who are good at shooting war dramas.

Suddenly, Liu Zhou had an idea in his mind. Doesn’t Feng Kuzi have a work that is very suitable for adaptation into a drama?

(End of this chapter)