Chapter 280 The hot Lunar New Year movie
The Lunar New Year period is still the most important and most watched period of the year in mainland China.

At the same time, the annual Lunar New Year period is also a battleground for major companies.

Compared with last year's Lunar New Year box office dominated by "Red Cliff", this year there are two heroes competing for supremacy again.

One is the big production "The Warlords" jointly produced by Star Media and Media Asia, starring three superstars: Jet Li, Andy Lau and Jin Chengwu.

The other is the military blockbuster "Assembly" starring Qin Hao, a popular young actor from the mainland.

If we only look at the cast, "The Warlords" is definitely miles ahead of "Assembly".

Although Qin Hao is very popular in mainland China now, he cannot compare with any of the three main actors in "The Warlords".

Although many people claim that Jet Li is out of date, even before he retired, he and Jackie Chan were still one of the biggest and most popular Chinese superstars.

As for Andy Lau, he is already a superstar. In this life, because of his collaboration with Liu Zhou, Andy Lau's influence will be even higher and his box office appeal will be even stronger.

As for Kim Sung-woo, although he is not very active in later generations, he is still a popular star in Asia and is rated as the most handsome face in Asia.

He has become very popular in Asia simply because of his good looks.

So in terms of cast, "Assembly" and "The Warlords" cannot be compared at all.

What's more, the director of "The Warlords" is the famous Hong Kong director Chen Kexin, and the popular mainland actress Xu Jinglei plays the female lead, and the behind-the-scenes team is also extremely luxurious.

Although Liu Zhou was unhappy with Chen Kexin, it was undeniable that he was quite well-known at that time.

As for Xu Jinglei, although her title as one of the Four Great Dan Actresses was taken away from her and she could no longer be bundled for marketing, through the strong hype from the Beijing circle, she still managed to build her own image as a talented woman in the way that she was portrayed in history.

From time to time, she posts some whining, literary and artistic writing on her blog, but people nowadays like this kind of literary and artistic writing, so they gave her the title of "Blog Queen".

Then she switched to filming and became a director, and somehow she became a talented woman.

In fact, if Xu Cainv works hard to be her own director, it might not be a bad idea. After all, the shelf life of a female star is short, but a director is a job that he can do for a lifetime and has a high status.

However, Xu couldn't bear to give up the halo of a star, and she acted from time to time, competing for resources with popular big and small stars, but the results were not satisfactory.

Xu Jinglei was one of the first mainland female stars to become popular back then.

When she became famous with "Love is Not Blind", except for Boss Zhao, everyone else was an "unknown person".

Zhang Ziyi had just emerged, Zhou Gongzi was not well-known, Zeng Li had not officially debuted at that time, and Shuang Bing was also in the struggling stage.

But now, any one of the Four Dans and Two Bings can surpass her in terms of fame and achievements.

Although she is not out of date yet, after all, she still has some fame due to her talented female character, but she has long been left behind by the four leading actresses. Now, the only thing she can boast of is probably her identity as a female director.

In the past two years, when the four Dan and two Bing actresses have been doing well, Xu Cainü's development has been mediocre.

I heard that Gao Yuanyuan was originally chosen to play the female lead in "The Warlords", and Star Media seemed to want to sign her at that time.

But the Beijing circle suddenly made a move and pushed Xu Cainü to win the leading female role in "The Warlords", directly snatching the role from Gao Yuanyuan.

In the end, the collaboration between Xingmei and Gao Yuanyuan came to nothing.

But no matter what, although Xu Cainü did not have historical fame, she had the support of the Beijing circle and was still one of the popular actresses in the mainland at that time.

Although "The Warlords" has such a strong lineup, they still dare not take "Assembly" lightly.

The title of "Assembly" produced by Golden Harvest makes people take it very seriously.

Since Golden Harvest was acquired and restructured by Liu Zhou, its development has been rapid and none of the films it has produced has been a failure.

It’s like going back to the 1980s and 1990s, when everyone would inexplicably want to watch a movie produced by Golden Harvest.

They also heard that Liu Zhou was very optimistic about the film "Assembly" and personally instructed and arranged the filming, which made the "The Warlords" side pay more attention to it.

As a director, every movie Liu Zhou shoots is a big hit and no one doubts his vision.

Therefore, in order to win the Lunar New Year box office and defeat "Assembly", "The Warlords" carried out a huge scale of publicity.

The investors also invested a lot of money, not to mention the publicity costs, and the main actors also worked hard.

Jet Li was interviewed by many talk shows, and Andy Lau even went to the "Happy Camp" program on Xiangnan TV with Xu Jinglei despite his status as a superstar.

I don’t know whether Andy Lau went there voluntarily or whether it was a collaboration between several investors and Shonan TV that facilitated his participation, but Andy Lau’s participation in “Happy Camp” was indeed very popular.

It is undeniable that the most popular variety show in China at present is "Happy Camp", coupled with Andy Lau's fan base across all age groups.

After that episode of "Happy Camp" was broadcast, the ratings went through the roof, even reaching over ten at its highest. When Andy Lau appeared, the average ratings exceeded six.

This made the Shonan TV station laugh so hard that they couldn't stop.

If it weren't for the Golden Horse Awards incident, the news related to "The Warlords" would have been even more popular.

At that time, not only the main actors, but also the two major investors, Star Media and Media Asia, were extremely jealous of the Golden Horse Awards.

Who wouldn’t be annoyed when a good situation was suddenly interrupted?
Fortunately, the heat of the Golden Horse Awards incident did not last too long, otherwise they would not have been able to help but criticize the Golden Horse Awards together.

On December 15, "The Warlords" held its premiere at the Beijing Olympic Sports Center.

Holding the premiere at the Olympic Sports Center is quite a big deal.

Both Jet Li and Andy Lau invited Liu Zhou to participate, but he really couldn't spare the time at the time and had to decline.

Although "The Warlords" is a competitor of "Assembly", public is public and private is private, and Liu Zhou has a good relationship with Andy Lau and Jet Li.

However, although Liu Zhou did not come, it did not affect the solemnity and sensation of the premiere ceremony of "The Warlords" at all.

This time, "The Warlords" was not like previous blockbusters, which premiered one or two days later and then released nationwide after public opinion had fermented thoroughly.

After its premiere, "The Warlords" was released in all major domestic theaters at 6 p.m.

It was a total of 6 hours from 6pm to the early morning, but in these 6 hours, "The Warlords" still earned million at the box office!

Not only did it do well at the box office, it also had a very good reputation.

Douban gave the film a high score of 8.3 that evening, which is a very high score for a big production.

On the second day of its release, the movie grossed 25 million yuan at the box office. After four days of release, the total box office exceeded 100 million yuan.

Actually, strictly speaking, it was not four days, but three days and six hours.

But no matter whether it is three days or four days, the box office of "The Warlords" is undoubtedly a huge hit.

Historically, "The Warlords" has never achieved such good results, although it was also the most popular movie at the time and its publicity campaign was equally strong.

But the first-day box office was only over 18 million, and in the first five days, the box office was barely 90 million. The reason why the box office of "The Warlords" is so much better in this life is that in addition to the leading actors' more active promotion, the main reason is that the domestic film market has become much larger than the same period in history.

Because of Liu Zhou's appearance and the successive release of several hit movies, not to mention the project "Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms", the box office exceeded 300 million and 400 million, far exceeding the same period.

This not only stimulates everyone's desire to watch movies, but also stimulates theater companies to invest in theaters.

The number of screens in the mainland has now increased by at least 20 percent compared to the same period in history.

Therefore, in the past two years, the box office of big-budget movies has generally been better than in history.

As a big production with a strong cast and excellent reputation, it is only natural that "The Warlords" has achieved box office results far exceeding those of the same period.

However, at this time, "The Warlords" is about to face a strong competitor.

On December 18, "Assembly" also held its premiere in the CPPCC Auditorium.

Although "Assembly" was not as popular as "The Warlords", thanks to the reputation of Golden Harvest and Liu Zhou, many celebrity guests and media reporters also came to the premiere day.

The excitement at the scene was just as great as the premiere of "The Warlords".

Although "Assembly" is not as good as others in terms of cast and attention, at least it cannot lose to others in momentum when it is released.

Therefore, Golden Harvest also put in a lot of effort and made careful preparations for this premiere.

Liu Zhou was not the protagonist today, but as soon as he arrived at the venue, he was besieged by reporters.

However, most of the reporters were asking questions related to "The Martian", which made people in the industry stunned.

They didn't expect that "The Martian" would be so popular and the media would keep a close eye on the film.

After all, this was the premiere of another movie, and Liu Zhou couldn't steal the limelight from "Assembly", so he didn't answer any questions about "The Martian".

After briefly answering a few questions related to "Assembly", he got rid of the reporters and left.

As he entered the venue, Liu Zhou saw Han Shanping waving at him. It seemed that he had noticed him a long time ago.

"Liu Zhou, it seems that you are the focus of media attention wherever you go." Han Shanping said with a smile.

"I also benefited from The Martian. They were focusing on the first science fiction film in China."

"Don't be so modest. Without you, there would be no The Martian. By the way, how is the filming of the movie going?"

"all the best!"

"Okay, I feel relieved to hear you say that. If you have any questions, be sure to call me. Just focus on filming the movie, and I'll take care of the rest for you."

"I won't be polite if you have something to say."

The two chatted about The Martian for a while, and Han Shanping then said with a smile:

"The box office of The Warlords is so strong, do you still have confidence that Assembly can win this box office battle?"

"Yes, in fact, although The Warlords had explosive box office success in the early stages, its staying power was not as strong as Assembly."

"Oh, what do you say?"

Now "The Warlords" not only has high box office but also has a good reputation. Han Shanping is a little curious why Liu Zhou said that the film will not have enough stamina.

"In the movie The Warlords, Li Lianjie's acting is perfect, and the performances of Andy Lau, Jin Chengwu, and Xu Jinglei are also first-rate.

The lens, action, art, dubbing, lighting, and scenery are all top-notch in China.

Even the plot, which has always been a weakness of previous costume films, has no problems.

The film is one of the top costume blockbusters of all time in every aspect. Even if we look at the next 10 or even years, it will be difficult for a costume film to surpass it. "

Although Liu Zhou despises Chen Kexin, he still highly approves of the movie "The Warlords" and even likes it.

"Why do I feel like you said something better than what Xingmei bought in the press release? Are you sure you're not saying the opposite of what you mean?"

"Of course, this is what I really think, The Warlords is indeed a good movie, but it is also too heavy.

The whole film is filled with gloomy tones, sad music, desolate and cruel war scenes, and there is not even any place for the audience to see hope.

Even when Li Lianjie accepted the reward and became the Governor-General of Liangjiang, it was full of calculations and conspiracies.

It's a bit inappropriate to release a movie like this during the Lunar New Year period, which requires joy.

If The Warlords is released during the summer of next year, I think the box office will likely exceed 300 million.”

After listening to Liu Zhou's words, Han Sanping pondered for a while and said:

"Hearing you say that, it seems to be true. I've also watched The Warlords, and it's indeed a bit too depressing."

But then Han Shanping changed his mind and realized, that’s not right, “Assembly” is not a happy movie either!
Although "Assembly" is not as heavy as "The Warlords", it is definitely not a movie that makes you laugh.

Liu Zhou couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth in response to Han Shanping's question. I can't tell you that "Assembly" might be on the news for 30 minutes and then attract bookings from various units.

Historically, the most important reason why the box office of "Assembly" eventually surpassed "The Warlords" was that the Thirty Minutes News mentioned the movie "Assembly" twice.

As for various other reasons, they are secondary.

Although I cannot tell Han Shanping the main reason, I can still talk about some other minor reasons.

“Assembly is about war on the surface, but it’s actually about human nature.

The movie does not discuss whether war is meaningful or not, nor does it discuss whether sacrifice is valuable or not. Instead, it discusses a simple truth that exists in the hearts of ordinary people:

Good people should be rewarded, and heroes should not shed tears after shedding blood.

This point can resonate with most audiences.

Apart from that, it depends on the strength of the distribution companies behind the two films.

Mr. Han, do you think that the publicity and promotion capabilities of the distributors of The Warlords, Stellar Media and Polybona Films, can be comparable to Golden Harvest?"

There is something that many people don’t know. The overseas distribution of “The Warlords” was handed over to Golden Harvest by Star Media and Media Asia.

Moreover, even in mainland China, Golden Harvest’s distribution capabilities are now stronger than Poly Bona and Star Media.

Liu Zhou didn't care whether Han Shanping believed his reply or not. It didn't matter.

After a while, "Assembly" began to be officially screened.

(End of this chapter)