Chapter 276 Turning on the camera and the confused reporter

The sudden popularity of "Lust, Caution" also made its box office performance very impressive.

Within one month of its release, the film earned more than 1.5 million yuan at the mainland box office, becoming the first art film in the mainland to exceed million yuan at the box office.

Not only that, the movie also grossed 4500 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong and 2.5 million New Taiwan dollars in Taiwan, which was a huge box office success.

In comparison, the box office performance of "Room" was much worse. After one month of release, the final box office was only over 70 million.

In fact, to be honest, the box office of more than 70 million is already very outstanding. Most commercial films currently cannot achieve such a result.

But people will naturally compare "Room" and "Lust, Caution" together, which makes "Room" seem not so outstanding.

Some people even criticized the company online for this, but Liu Zhou and Jiahe ignored it.

Jiang Zhiqiang, however, understood the seriousness of the situation and took the initiative to help control the comments, and even made a special phone call to Liu Zhou to explain the situation.

At the same time, in addition to the hit "Lust, Caution", Tang Wei also became famous overnight and became a popular movie actor this year.

However, there are rumors that Tang Wei was banned. But this time, as Liu Zhou is a person with some status in the circle, he knows more about the situation, so he knows that the statement about the ban is actually not accurate.

At least no explicit or implicit notification has been issued.

It is not difficult to understand why Tang Wei has become silent. After all, although everyone loves to watch boat scenes, they still do not conform to the traditional values ​​of the Chinese people.

When people look at her again, the first thing they will look at is tinted glasses, so the industry will definitely not dare to use her for the time being.

However, Jiang Zhiqiang was considerate enough. He did not abandon Tang Wei directly. Instead, he made new plans for her, letting her go to South Korea first, and then return to the mainland after the turmoil in the mainland subsided.

……

Still in Han Shanping's office at China Film Group, Liu Zhou and Han Shanping were smoking as usual.

"That is not bad."

This is the real ban, but Li An’s influence is too great and it is difficult to say it openly.

Although Li An can live a good life in the United States, it would be fine as long as you don't come here to harm mainland audiences again.

"Forget about him. When are you going to Dunhuang?"

"We'll leave tomorrow, and the opening ceremony will be held the day after tomorrow."

It was already December 3rd, and all preparations for "The Martian" had been completed.

The Martian landscapes needed for filming in Dunhuang have already been built, and some props such as spacecraft and Mars rovers have been made. The actors have been trained for more than half a month and are also ready.

Now everything is ready, just waiting for shooting.

The project of "The Martian" was launched in late August and now, in early December, the preliminary preparations took more than three months.

This is the first time that Liu Zhou has shot a movie that required such a long period of preparation. Even movies shot in Hollywood do not take that long to prepare.

However, this is the first science fiction blockbuster in China after all. Everything is difficult at the beginning, and it should be much better in the future.

"I can only wish you a smooth shoot. I have other things to do here, so I may not be able to be there when the time comes."

"It doesn't matter. The launch conference isn't that important anyway. It'll be fine as long as you don't miss the celebration party for The Martian."

"Haha, don't worry, I will definitely not miss the celebration party."

……

The next day, Liu Zhou boarded a plane to Dunhuang. After getting off the plane, Zhang Zhao personally took people to pick up Liu Zhou and take him to the hotel.

He has been in Dunhuang for more than a month. Since his last visit, he only went back to Beijing occasionally and stayed here most of the time.

Compared to when he first came here, Zhang Zhao seemed to have become darker and the skin on his face was rougher.

"Is everything ready?"

"It's ready. A deputy from the provincial government will come to cut the ribbon tomorrow."

Hearing what Zhang Zhao said, Liu Zhou couldn't help but sigh. He really didn't want to deal with officials.

"Does Gansu Province attach so much importance to this?" "This is the western part of the country, and our investment of 30 million is already not small, not to mention that we will add more in the future.

Of course, the most important thing is that Mr. Liu and the project "The Martian" will have a lot of exposure, so they will certainly take it very seriously."

That’s right, tomorrow will not only be the launch conference for “The Martian”, but also the groundbreaking ceremony for the Jiahe Mars Village Tourism Demonstration Zone. The two will be held together.

Although the construction of the Mars Village Tourism Demonstration Area had already started more than half a month ago, and in order to shorten the construction period, Liu Zhou specially invited an engineering team from China Construction to build the Martian landform.

But for local departments, it doesn’t matter when the construction starts; what matters is that there needs to be such a ceremony.

The next day, a simple stage was built not far from the location of "The Martian".

Although the stage was simple, the scene was very lively, with loud gongs and drums, and red flags waving. The scene and atmosphere were very lively.

This time, not only representatives from Gansu Province and Dunhuang authorities were present, but also representatives from China Film Group Corporation and the Space Administration.

Of course, media reporters are indispensable in such occasions, otherwise it would be a waste of time.

The ceremony was originally intended to be a publicity stunt.

At first, the media did not take the invitation seriously. It was just a tourism project. Who would be willing to travel so far to report such a news that has not received any popularity at all?

But then they heard that it was related to "The Martian", and they all rushed to Dunhuang in a hurry.

More and more reporters rushed to the press conference. Looking at the stage set up in front and some buildings not far away, everyone couldn't help but feel a little strange.

"What's this for? Isn't this a tourist area? How is it related to The Martian?"

"Could it be a film and television city? Didn't poet Chen build a Qin Palace when he was filming "The Assassination of Qin"?"

"The Martian is a science fiction movie, why build a movie studio there?"

The reporters chatted idly, waiting quietly for the press conference to begin.

Finally, after waiting for more than ten minutes, the protagonist arrived.

Leaders from Gansu Province, Dunhuang and the Space Administration came on stage one after another. However, the only person the reporters were concerned about was Liu Zhou, who came on last.

When Liu Zhou came on stage, the sound of shutter buttons became much louder.

The leaders on the stage were somewhat surprised to see so many reporters, and at the same time they had a concrete understanding of Liu Zhou's popularity.

Then the leader of Dunhuang Tourism Bureau, who served as the host, began to introduce:
"Welcome to all journalists and friends, the first Mars Village cultural tourism demonstration scenic spot in China that integrates science fiction, nature, ecology and culture has officially opened."

Only then did the reporter know what kind of tourist area was being built, but what the hell is the Mars Cultural Tourism Demonstration Zone?

Using the brand of "The Martian" to promote tourism?

Then, under the puzzled gazes of the reporters, the red cloth was slowly unveiled on the cardboard wall behind the temporary stage, revealing a huge scenic spot rendering.

When you see the renderings, the first impression that comes to your mind is that this is the surface of Mars?

After all, this picture satisfies all of our cognitive impressions of Mars.

But in addition to the large and small sand and stones all over the ground, meteorite craters everywhere, large canyons, volcanoes and other landforms, there are also rows of Martian camps on the plains, and spacecrafts standing proudly at the door.

Although the reporters were full of doubts, the host finally said something that interested them.

“At the same time, Mars Village will also serve as the location for the filming of The Martian on Mars. We will build…

Finally, I would like to invite Mr. Liu Zhou, the director of The Martian, to introduce some relevant situations and answer some of your questions. "

Where was The Martian filmed?

This is a science fiction blockbuster. Shouldn't it be shot in a studio with a green screen and then synthesized in post-production?

How did you get to film here?

The reporters in the audience were really full of doubts at this time. Before Liu Zhou even opened his mouth, everyone couldn't help but start asking questions.

(End of this chapter)