Chapter 147: The bad reputation of "House of Flying Daggers"

When Liu Zhou returned to the capital, it was already mid-August.

Liu went to Hollywood at the beginning of this week and stayed there for more than three months.

During this period, Zhou Shan Studio has been very quiet. Apart from the filming of a TV series "Drawing Sword", there are no other projects.

Liu Zhou went to the United States, Zhong Lifang went to Hong Kong, and the artists under their management were also relatively Buddhist, performing in dramas and occasionally doing commercial performances.

But the entertainment industry is a place where there is never a shortage of hot spots.

On July 16, director Zhang Yimou's second costume martial arts blockbuster "House of Flying Daggers" held a grand world premiere and concert at the Beijing Workers' Stadium.

Although Zhang Weiping is a bit of a big mouth in front of the media, he is an absolute master in hype and is very good at finding gimmicks.

Unlike Feng Kuzi who only hypes up vulgar things and celebrity scandals, he directly invests heavily to hype up the popularity.

The last movie "Hero" premiered at the Great Hall and caused a sensation.

This time, the premiere of "House of Flying Daggers" was held at the Workers' Stadium, and a concert was also held at the same time.

This is definitely the first of its kind in the mainland film industry, but the sensation it caused was definitely greater than the premiere of "Hero". It is said that an additional 2000 million yuan in production costs was spent specifically for this purpose.

This premiere alone costs as much as the production cost of a medium-budget movie.

It makes those poor directors envious and jealous.

Zhang Weiping also invited Liu Zhou to attend, but he was filming in the United States at the time and was too far away, so he did not attend.

However, Zeng Li accepted the invitation and was furious when she came back.

In the movie "House of Flying Daggers", Zhang Ziyi is the absolute heroine. The premiere of the movie was so grand, she was like a proud little peacock, spreading her feathers throughout the entire audience.

Especially in front of Zeng Li, he seemed to have completely forgotten the previous unpleasantness between the two of them. He kept pulling Zeng Li to reminisce in front of everyone, acting like a pair of close classmates.

Zeng Li couldn't get angry in public, so she could only deal with it with a fake smile.

Zhang Ziyi has indeed been very successful in the past two years.

Not only did he star in two blockbuster films directed by Zhang Yimou in succession, he also starred in Jacky Cheung's "Rush Hour 2".

"Rush Hour 2" is the highest-grossing film in the series, with North American box office of approximately $2.26 million and global total box office of approximately $3.47 million, ranking fifth in the North American box office of the year.

The top four that year were "Harry Potter 4", "The Lord of the Rings 1", "Shrek the Monsters 1" and "Monsters, Inc." This was Jackie Chan's best-performing Hollywood movie.

Although Zhang Ziyi's role in the film is not very outstanding, she is still the heroine of the movie.

Through "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and this movie, Zhang Ziyi also made her mark in Hollywood.

Now with the blessing of "House of Flying Daggers", Zhang Ziyi's career seems to be booming.

Not only that, I heard that Zhang Ziyi also won the leading role in the new film "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Hollywood director Spielberg.

Regardless of whether this matter is true or false, the fact that it is related to Spielberg's new film is definitely not groundless.

On the other hand, Zeng Li only filmed Xu Ke's "Seven Swords" in the nearly two years after "Hero", and it has not yet been released.

Although this movie was completed several months ago, due to the conflict between Xu Ke and the investors, the post-production process was still bumpy. It is expected to be released next year.

If Zeng Li didn't have a strong foundation, she might have been outdone by Zhang Ziyi now.

But as one grows, the other declines. Now Zhang Ziyi is no less popular and has a higher status in the industry than Zeng Li.

So she must share her joy with her old classmates, especially those who once surpassed her.

Liu Zhou looked at Zeng Li lying in his arms, looking angry, and couldn't help but feel a little funny.

They give people the feeling that they are as childish as children.

But no matter what, it was his girlfriend who was bullied, so Liu Zhou had to help her save her face.

"Lizi, don't worry. When I finish my current work, I will make a movie for you with a heroine as the lead. Then you will be able to surpass Zhang Ziyi."

"When exactly?"

It seems that Zeng Li was really made anxious by Zhang Ziyi this time. She never asked this before.

"Well, maybe I have to wait until next year. I just finished filming a movie in Hollywood, and my company is also busy with a big event, so I don't have time this year."

Zeng Li was considerate and said:
"It's okay, your matter is more important. I was just a little mad at Zhang Ziyi at the time, but I feel much better now.

Just recently, I received a script and I am ready to take it on.”

"Oh, what movie is it?"

"It's called 'Daisy'. It's directed by Liu Weiqiang, the director of 'Infernal Affairs'. It's shot by his team. It's a gangster romance film invested by the Korean CJ Group."

Liu Zhou has seen this movie, which is also a touching love movie, but with some more killer elements.

In the previous life, this movie was starred by Jun Ji-hyun. It seems that the absence of "My Sassy Girl" has had a great impact on her.

Liu Zhou is now a little worried that Zeng Li will make her bald in the future.

"Well, let's go shoot. Liu Weiqiang is a famous director in Hong Kong, and CJ Group is also a familiar partner of our company. This project should be quite good."

"Then I will join the crew next month and go to Korea."

"Are you reluctant to leave me?" Liu Zhou asked with a smile.

"Well, we've only been together for a few days, and we're going to separate again."

"Don't worry, after next year, when the company is on the right track, I will reduce my time as a director and focus on running the company, so that we won't be apart so much." "Really? I'm thinking about taking on fewer roles in the future."

"When the time comes, you can shoot if you want to, and take a rest if you don't want to."

"Ah."

After saying that, Zeng Li's hands started moving around again.

Liu Zhou secretly groaned in his heart, but he still had to bite the bullet and feed her.

Ask someone to get a few bottles of tiger bone wine tomorrow. Although Liu Zhou is still young, in order to be healthy in the future, he must start taking supplements now.

Liu Zhou stayed with Zeng Li at home for two days before going to the company.

Although Zhong Lifang has been based in Hong Kong recently, she would occasionally come back to handle some studio affairs.

Fortunately, there is not much going on in the studio during this period.

So even though the documents have been piled up for more than three months, there are not many documents that Liu Zhou needs to process.

It took Liu Zhou less than three hours to finish all the work.

Liu Zhou then browsed through the industry news during this period. There would be someone in the studio responsible for collecting and organizing this information.

Only then did Liu Zhou realize that the premiere of "House of Flying Daggers" was even more grand and sensational than he had imagined.

That night, the concert was led by Andy Lau, and singers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and overseas performed passionately, including Catherine Battle, Li Zongsheng, Tong Ange, Zhang Xinzhe, A-du, Chen Huilin, Pu Shu, Han Hong and other well-known singers.

In addition, there were nearly 50,000 audience members who came to watch the concert and the movie, which made the atmosphere very high.

Liu Zhou also admires Zhang Weiping a little for this.

Not only that, the premiere also included a program commemorating Mei Yanfang.

Liu Zhou saved his brother, but Mei Yanfang still died of illness last year.

"House of Flying Daggers" has a close connection with Queen Mei. The first actress Zhang Yimou invited was Mei Yanfang, and he wanted her to play the eldest sister of the Flying Dagger Sect.

Moreover, she is a close friend of Jiang Zhiqiang, the head of Hong Kong Emperor Entertainment Group and one of the investors of "House of Flying Daggers".

At that time, the contract between both parties had been signed. Even when she was ill, Mei Yanfang always expressed her willingness to perform. It was not until her condition worsened and her body could no longer support it that she was forced to terminate the contract.

Zhang Yimou has always felt very sorry about this. Not only did he add "This film is dedicated to the memory of Miss Mei Yanfang" at the end of the film, but when the biographical film "Mei Yanfang" was released in 2021, he also personally participated in the interview and helped to support the film.

However, the mention of the late Anita Mui at the premiere caused considerable controversy.

Many people think that it is a bit of a hype and a gimmick, and some people even say it more fiercely, saying that "House of Flying Daggers" is profiting from the blood of others, but some people think it is a way of commemorating the past.

Different people have different opinions!
But this premiere caused such a huge sensation and attracted so much coverage, and Mei Yanfang did occupy a lot of headlines.

After the premiere, "House of Flying Daggers" was officially released, with a first-day box office of 1600 million, breaking the first-day box office record of 1350 million set by "Hero".

In the first three days of the weekend, it grossed 5500 million yuan, breaking the mainland's first-week box office record of 5300 million yuan set by "Hero".

Not only that, "House of Flying Daggers" has also begun to be released on a large scale overseas and has achieved very good results.

One film in particular grossed over 1000 million U.S. dollars in the first week, which translates to over 8000 million yuan, and its total box office revenue directly surpassed that of the mainland.

However, behind the crazy box office, the reputation of "House of Flying Daggers" also collapsed completely.

In mainland China, this movie was criticized even more severely than "Hero".

Although this movie also has three superstars joining, Andy Lau, Jin Chengwu and Zhang Ziyi, the pictures, shots, beauty, scenes and colors are all top-notch and can be called a visual feast.

But the plot is really bad!

The hero and the heroine have been in love for many years. Later, he went on a business trip and the heroine was kidnapped due to a mistake. The hero came out to save her despite the danger. As a result, the heroine spent three days with another male colleague of his and they fell in love. She broke off all ties with the hero.

Damn, this is a standard cuckold plot!
If online articles dare to be written like this, no matter how good your writing is or how excellent your story is, you will be criticized by readers and become autistic.

"The old man has run out of ideas!"

This is the evaluation of Zhang Yimou by many media and film critics.

This time it’s not like “Hero”. The plot of “Hero” is a bit simple, but the audience can still watch it. So even though the media criticizes it, the audience is still willing to go to the cinema to support it.

Even the audience found "House of Flying Daggers" difficult to watch.

So although this movie started off very strongly, it lacked stamina and was far inferior to "Hero" or even "The Blade of the Immortal".

So up to now, more than a month after its release, the box office has been less than 1.5 million yuan. There is no hope of breaking 1.6 million yuan, and even breaking million yuan will be very difficult.

Liu Zhou couldn't help but shake his head after watching it. "House of Flying Daggers" is indeed Zhang Yimou's worst film, and its reputation is even worse than that of the later "Curse of the Golden Flower".

In the first decade of the new century, this movie was the one that Zhang Yimou was most criticized for.

But there is no way, he just has the ability, and the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games made him a god.

Speaking of which, the recruitment for the Olympic Games chief director seems to be about to begin.

Liu Zhou is self-aware and has no idea about this position. Rebirth is not a panacea.

Before leaving get off work, Liu Zhou couldn't help but want to go to the drama troupe to take a look.

But unexpectedly, I ran into Zhang Tong on the road.

(End of this chapter)