Chapter 184 The Grand "The Promise"

December 12, 2005.

The Hollywood blockbuster "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" was officially taken off the shelves, and ultimately earned just over 1 million at the box office.

It became another Hollywood blockbuster with a box office of over 100 million yuan in the mainland, and also broke the highest box office record of the "Harry Potter" series in the mainland.

This is the fourth film in the Harry Potter series. Not only has the box office in the mainland increased year by year, the influence of the fantastic magical world has also continued to expand around the world.

The author JK Rowling has been deified and has become one of the most famous global best-selling authors and a representative of independent and striving women in the world.

However, no one expected that more than ten years later, this author would be [expelled] by readers and removed from his identity as the author of "Harry Potter".

You stinky writer, do you know what Harry Potter is...

Liu Zhou is not very interested in Western magic or anything like that. Relatively speaking, he prefers Eastern fantasy.

On the same day that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was released, a grand premiere ceremony was held for Chen Shishi's oriental fantasy martial arts masterpiece The Promise.

As a well-known director in mainland China, Liu Zhou also has a very good relationship with Han Shanping, so naturally he was also invited to attend the premiere of "The Promise".

Although he likes oriental fantasy, he really doesn't like poet Chen's oriental fantasy!

But everyone is in the same circle, and they will meet each other sooner or later. Although Liu Zhou didn't like it, he still went to the CPPCC auditorium.

Liu Zhou was sure that if he had not come this time, Han Shanping might not say anything, but poet Chen would definitely remember him for the rest of his life.

In order to prevent poet Chen from always thinking about him, Liu Zhou had to come as well.

"The Promise" is said to have an investment of 300 million yuan. If it weren't for "Red Cliff", this movie could be said to be the movie with the highest investment in mainland China.

When the project was first announced, poet Chen was full of energy and ambition, and he even casually mentioned that the investment in "Hero" was only 2.5 million yuan.

After the budget for "Red Cliff" came out, according to Han Shanping, poet Chen was gloomy for several days.

Later, because of the actor selection issues in "Red Cliff", it popped up again to seek attention.

But no matter what, the investment of 300 million also shows that "The Promise" is very wealthy.

So poet Chen also made the premiere particularly grand.

He invited thousands of extras, wearing the red armor from the movie, and formed four neat squares on both sides of the red carpet at the entrance.

This is undoubtedly a very eye-catching first impression, and it looks very impressive at first glance.

So many guests who had just got off the car were a little shocked by this scene.

The great director is worthy of being a great director, his aura is no less than that of Zhang Yimou in the past.

To be honest, Liu Zhou was also surprised by these four large square formations.

The extras invited were all tall and strong, wearing bright red armor, neatly dressed, and looked truly majestic.

However, Liu Zhou was slightly surprised but quickly recovered. Amid the flashing lights, he walked calmly and leisurely along the 200-meter-long red carpet.

When we arrived inside the auditorium, there were already quite a few people inside.

Liu Zhou took a quick look and found that all the guests were big names or well-known figures in the circle, and there was not a single minor character.

Despite this, when Liu Zhouyi came in, he still became the focus of everyone's attention.

Whether they knew each other or not, they all greeted Liu Zhou with a smile.

He is now used to this and responds to everyone with a smile on his face.

At this time, Han Shanping saw Liu Zhou and immediately waved to him to come over.

Liu Zhou came and sat down next to Han Shanping. Without any greetings, he asked directly:

"Liu Zhou, tell me the truth, are you not optimistic about Director Chen's The Promise?"

"Boss Han, look at what you said. If Director Chen hears what you said, he will definitely tell the media that I don't like his child!"

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm asking you seriously now."

"Haha, I'm just afraid that Director Chen will hate me!"

Everything went smoothly during the promotion period for poet Chen and his beautiful wife, but there were some minor issues.

That is, when participating in an event held by Sohu, Chen Shishi was asked by the specially invited host Liu Yan what to do if the box office did not meet expectations.

After hearing this, Director Chen became furious and walked away on the spot.

Afterwards, he publicly denounced Liu Yan in front of reporters, saying that she asked this question with ulterior motives. Asking this question before the movie was released was like attending a child's full moon banquet and asking what to do if the child was dying.

At that time, Liu Yan was just a newcomer. After offending Chen Shishi, a big director in the industry, she was so scared that she had nightmares for a month. When she talked about this matter on the show, she apologized repeatedly.

To be honest, it was indeed inappropriate for Liu Yan to ask this question, but poet Chen's reaction was too big.

It would have been fine if he just walked away in anger, but he went out of his way to scold Liu Yan afterwards. Not only did he seem narrow-minded, he also showed a lack of demeanor of a senior and a great director.

A newcomer in the entertainment industry and a big director in the circle, no one would say anything because the big director made things difficult for the newcomer.

Liu Zhou would not stand up for Liu Yan over such a small matter, but that did not stop him from teasing poet Chen about it in private.

But then Liu Zhou saw that Han Shanping's face was getting darker and darker, so he quickly put away his smile and said seriously:
"The Promise is the work of Director Chen, who also invited a South Korean and Hong Kong superstar to star in it. Without market testing, no one dares to say whether it will be a success or not."

"Your polite words may be fine if you are saying them to other people, but if you are using them to fool me, it's not good enough.

You suddenly advanced the release date of your company's "Crazy Stone" and wanted to release it before "The Promise" with only a few days of promotion time.

And your movie "New World" was released one week after "The Promise".

You are clearly not optimistic about The Promise and want to attack from both sides to eat up the box office cake of this year's Lunar New Year holiday."

"Boss Han, you've analyzed it so clearly, why are you still asking me?"

After hearing what Liu Zhou said, Han Shanping couldn't help but sigh:
“Isn’t this a bit unwilling?

This time, The Promise has such a huge investment, and China Film Group is in charge and has paid the bulk of the money. If this movie fails, it will be a big blow to China Film Group.”

“Boss Han, you can rest assured. Although I am not optimistic about The Promise, this movie will not lose money.

It is definitely not possible to recover the cost in China, but overseas, with the reputation of Director Chen and the presence of several Asian superstars, the film rights will definitely sell well.”

Although the reputation of mainland martial arts blockbusters in this period is bad, none of them lost money. Instead, they all made a lot of money.

Otherwise, why would major film companies be so keen on investing in martial arts films?

Later, the overseas martial arts craze passed, film companies could no longer make money, and the number of martial arts films in mainland China declined sharply.

It was not until the release of "The Swordsman" that a martial arts craze was set off in mainland China, but it soon died down again.

"I hope so."

"Boss Han, don't worry. You won't lose money on this investment. However, Director Chen's situation may not be very good. You should think about how to protect Director Chen's reputation."

Shishi Chen is a direct descendant of China Film Group Corporation, and most of his films are invested by Beijing Film Studio or China Film Corporation.

Even though poet Chen was brought down from the altar because of “The Promise” in his previous life, his subsequent films were all invested in by China Film.

"Not really. Zhang Yimou was criticized so badly after House of Flying Daggers, but it was nothing serious, wasn't it?"

"Boss Han, you've also watched the movie The Promise. Do you think House of Flying Daggers is a bad movie compared to it?"

Han Shanping thought about the plot of The Promise and fell silent. "Director Chen has set a very high tone this time, so he will be criticized even more severely. If it goes as I expected, Director Chen may be criticized even more severely than Director Zhang after House of Flying Daggers," Liu Zhou continued.

In fact, not only was he harshly criticized, but even the Palme d'Or honor that Chen was so proud of was questioned by everyone.

It is easy to imagine how great an influence the movie "The Promise" had on poet Chen.

Later generations said that "Farewell My Concubine" was filmed by poet Chen's father, which was really vilifying for the sake of vilifying.

When Farewell My Concubine was filmed, poet Chen was only a minor celebrity.

In addition, Zhang Yimou has won awards overseas one after another, so he has been holding his breath.

Moreover, he did not interfere with the script of the movie "Farewell My Concubine", and during the filming he was not as arbitrary and dictatorial as he is now and would not listen to any opinions.

Therefore, without letting poet Chen loose himself, he was still able to demonstrate his high level of directing ability.

It was just because after "Farewell My Concubine", he won the only Palme d'Or in mainland China and became completely arrogant. Poet Chen was no longer restricted by many restrictions, so the movies he made were a bit self-indulgent.

But there is no doubt that "Farewell My Concubine" was filmed by poet Chen.

In fact, the fifth-generation directors can make very good movies as long as they are not allowed to touch the script.

After hearing Liu Zhou's words, Han Shanping said nothing more, and stood up and said:
"I'll go backstage first. The ceremony should be starting soon."

"Go ahead and do your work, don't worry about me."

After Han Shanping left, Liu Zhou also breathed a sigh of relief.

He felt that Han Shanping was not unaware of the badness of "The Promise", nor was he worried about not getting his investment back, but he was just very depressed because he had made a wrong judgment this time.

Han Shanping was the one who promoted poet Chen's work "The Promise". He even gave full power to Chen out of his trust in him.

But the work he finally produced obviously failed to live up to Han Shanping's trust.

Just when Liu Zhou's thoughts were in a mess, he suddenly heard a voice in his ears.

"Liu Zhou, long time no see."

When Liu Zhou Yi looked up, he saw Boss Zhao, who was wearing a white deep V long dress and had a graceful figure, appearing in front of him with a smile on her face.

"Boss Zhao, long time no see."

Before, when they were in college, Liu Zhou and Boss Zhao knew each other.

But Boss Zhao had clear goals, and he became extremely famous suddenly, so the two of them didn't have much interaction after that.

Later, Liu Zhou began to gain fame in the circle, but he fell out with the Beijing circle again.

As a darling of the Beijing circle at the time, Boss Zhao also found it difficult to befriend Liu Zhou.

This is even more true for Liu Zhou. Not to mention that Boss Zhao will be harmonized in the future, even if he is not, he does not have the habit of trying to please others but getting rejected.

However, although Boss Zhao has not left the Beijing circle yet, it is obvious that Liu Zhou's current value has exceeded the ties to the Beijing circle in her heart.

"Yeah, we haven't sat down together since we graduated from college."

"It's mainly because you, Boss Zhao, are too famous and we don't have the time to get together."

"Then I'll arrange a party next time I have time, and invite Xiao Ming and Kun Er to have a gathering together. I happen to have opened a bar in Beijing, which is relatively private and only entertains people in the circle."

"Sure, you can arrange it then."

It is you who makes the arrangements; whether to go or not is another matter.

Boss Zhao's bar is quite famous in the entertainment industry, and Liu Zhou has also heard of it.

Without certain connections or status, you can't enter her bar. I heard that the big sister Naying is a frequent customer of her bar, and a few girls have formed some kind of sister group.

It also includes the queen Wang Fei, which is much more prestigious than the sister group that Jia Yueting’s wife later formed.

The two chatted for a while, and Boss Zhao suddenly asked:

"Liu Zhou, will your Jiahe be listed again?"

"I don't know. I haven't thought that far ahead."

Damn, Boss Zhao has fallen in love with capital operations at this time?

No wonder later generations were so skilled!
But Liu Zhou didn't know where Boss Zhao got his confidence from. Even if Jiahe went public, would he include her in the deal like Boss Ma did?
Just because they were just acquaintances during college?
Or is it just because she is popular?

But when it comes to popularity, Boss Zhao is no longer the most popular among the four major actresses.

Boss Zhao also felt Liu Zhou's indifference and said with a smile:

"Okay, then don't forget to find me for cooperation when there is a suitable opportunity in the future."

After saying that, she left. Liu Zhou didn't take her seriously either. They were destined not to be the same kind of people.

But after a while, another one of the four major actresses came over.

"What's wrong, old classmate? What are you daydreaming about?"

Liu Zhou looked up again and saw it was Zhang Ziyi.

Liu Zhou's attitude towards her became much better, and the two had a very good relationship during their college years.

Although she and Zeng Li had some disputes, for Liu Zhou now, this was just a trivial matter.

Of course, if the two of them meet again in the future, Liu Zhou will definitely stand on Zeng Li's side and fully support her.

"Nothing, just thinking about something out of boredom."

"Are you still thinking about that Boss Zhao?"

Liu Zhou rolled his eyes at her and said unhappily:

"Now that you have become an international star, you have a different tone when you speak. How dare you make fun of me? Believe it or not, I will ask Zhang Weiping to put you on ice."

At the end of November this year, "Memories of a Geisha", starring three Chinese actresses, Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li and Yang Ziqiong, was released in the United States and the box office performance was quite good.

Zhang Ziyi became famous overnight, and with the accumulation of previous films, she has established a firm foothold in Hollywood.

The nickname "International Zhang" is well-deserved.

Although the movie did well at the box office, the three of them were badly criticized in Asia.

The three most famous Chinese actresses, two of whom are pure Chinese, actually played the role of women.

This is simply hurting national sentiments.

But they were scolded even more harshly in the first film, and they didn't understand why the story of their own film had to be played by Chinese people.

Moreover, many details of this movie are completely inconsistent with the facts. To a certain extent, it can be regarded as an alternative version of "Miss Saigon".

Seeing someone cursing loudly, I felt that it hurt the national sentiment.

In fact, this is not surprising. The movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" was originally adapted from a novel by a handsome American man.

This book is full of Western men's fantasies about certain things, and it would be strange if one could read it alone.

Fortunately, the background of this movie is in a foreign country. If it was set in China, not to mention Zhang Ziyi, even Gong Li would be nailed to the pillar of shame for the rest of her life.

(End of this chapter)