Chapter 290: Invitation to the premiere of "The Sound of Wind" and "The Forbidden Kingdom"

Liu Zhou does not need to worry about Golden Harvest's current business. While he has time now, he wants to finalize the tribute film arranged by his superiors.

I don’t know why, but people used to enjoy watching mainstream movies such as "Tunnel Warfare", "Mine Warfare" and "The Garland under the Mountain" with great relish.

But now, I don’t know when it started, but when it comes to mainstream movies, the first thing everyone thinks of is to criticize them.

But when watching the mainstream movies of the United States, they exclaim that they are awesome.

Although this is also due to the fact that the main theme of domestic dramas is rather stiff, the main reason is that there are too many bad guys and stupid people active on the Internet.

Don’t think that mainstream movies are not good or too preachy, but they are necessary.

Why have main-theme movies been criticized over the past decade, but major state-owned film studios have to make main-theme movies even if they don't make other movies?

Because this is a very important propaganda position. If you don’t occupy it, someone else will.

Before "The Founding of a Republic", everyone was relatively conservative when making main-theme movies, and they always shot them according to the old ways.

It was not until after "The Founding of a Republic" that the film studios gradually realized that main-theme films could also be made to look good and generate high box office returns.

Although "Founding of a Republic" was booked out for many theaters, even if the box office revenue from those theaters is removed, there were still many people who were attracted to the cinema because of the movie, and the box office revenue from this part was at least over 100 million yuan.

Later, seeing that there was profitability, private film and television companies began to compete with major studios for the business of producing main-theme and tribute films.

Now that Golden Harvest has received the task of making a tribute film, Liu Zhou will of course make the film beautifully.

Not every private company can take on the task of making a tribute film, although some companies may find it a thankless task.

This is a tribute film to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, but Golden Harvest does not need to shoot around the theme of the founding of the People's Republic of China like the other studios did.

In this case, Liu Zhou has more choices.

But in this era, there are actually not many choices.

If movies like "Wolf Warrior" and "Operation Red Sea" were released today, the directors and creators would be criticized to the point of becoming autistic.

Even Liu Zhou is no exception and will still be scolded by the entire Internet.

Even ten years later, a shot of Wu Jing holding a national flag in "Wolf Warrior 2" would still attract a lot of ridicule and even abuse, let alone now.

Moreover, now it is not only some public intellectuals who are causing trouble, but a large number of people have already been led astray without realizing it.

This kind of trend cannot be changed in a day or two or through one or two movies, and Liu Zhou does not want to go against the trend.

So the best choice is still a spy movie.

Apart from Zhang Yimou's "On the Cliff", the only spy war movie worth mentioning is "The Message".

Liu Zhou didn't think too much about it and chose "The Message". As for "On the Cliff", he decided to leave it to Zhang Yimou.

Besides, Golden Harvest had already acquired the film and television adaptation rights for the original novel of "The Sound of Wind".

Historically, this year was the year when Huayi, which was at the peak of its popularity, received the task of shooting a tribute film, and the film they released was "The Whistleblower".

At that time, Huayi assembled all the best talents of the company to create this tribute film.

The Wang brothers personally served as chief producers, Feng Kuazi served as supervisor, Chen Guofu served as producer and co-director, and all of their most popular artists including Zhou Gongzi, Li Bingbing and Huang Xiaoming were present.

The final film was indeed quite good, being both critically and commercially successful, and grossing over 200 million yuan at the box office.

This is not a private screening, the box office revenue is all from the movie tickets sold by the audience.

However, although the movie is well made, there are actually big differences between the original novel and the movie. In fact, the original novel is more exciting in terms of story.

Liu Zhou is now also considering whether to retain the more thrilling plot of the original work based on the movie.

But after Liu Zhou carefully read the novel twice, he found that there was not much he could do.

With limited time and so many characters, it is very difficult to take into account the exciting plot of the original novel.

The original work is very exciting, with all kinds of psychological speculation, probing, reasoning, setting up traps, covering up, suspicion, justification, blaming, denying, mutual accusations, unexpected events, indirect attacks, avoiding people's eyes and ears, and showing off their magical powers.
But some things are easy to express in words, but not so easy to turn into pictures.

Just like the later adaptation of online novels, it is even more difficult, much more difficult than adapting the works of well-known physical writers.

After all, many online novels are fantasy or fairy tale-like, full of fantasy.

All of this requires technology and funding.

If we want to recreate the scene like the nine dragons pulling the coffin in Infinite Universe, the cost would explode.

If you are reluctant to spend money, it would be great if you could make nine giant snakes pull the coffin.

So the Dou Qi turned into a horse and appeared. Even the dignified Dou Emperor could not catch up with a Dou fighter riding a horse.

There are also wings made of fighting spirit. Special effects are very expensive, but props are much cheaper. You can just use real wings to install on the back.

As for the aftermath of the battle that destroyed countless planets and shattered the universe, words can describe it in many ways, but it is difficult to film it.

What can be described in words does not mean it can be made into a picture.

How to act out the domineering aura and the shaking body of a tiger?
This is superficial, while the other more difficult to shoot is the inner self of the character.

The original novel of "The Sound of Wind" is full of intrigues and is filled with a large number of descriptions of the characters' inner thoughts and psychology.

It can be written in a novel, but it can’t be filmed in a movie, and it can’t be read out in a voice-over.

Do you need an instruction manual when watching a movie?

So, many people say that the plot of the movie is not as good as the original, and there is nothing we can do about it.

Liu Zhou had no other options in this regard. "It's difficult!"

Putting down the pen, Liu Zhou sighed. For this kind of subject matter, not only does the adaptation need to take the original work into consideration, but it also has a lot of constraints.

In the original novel, Li Ningyu was the old ghost, and Gu Xiaomeng was the insider sent by the Guo family to the puppet government. In the end, the two of them stood together and sent the information out.

Whether or not or whether the Guo Mansion should appear still needs to be decided by the higher-ups.

At this time, Zeng Li came in with a bowl of chicken soup.

When he smelled the fragrance, Liu Zhou suddenly felt a little nauseous.

In the previous month, Liu Zhou drank too much chicken soup and chicken. No matter how delicious it was, he would get tired of it if he ate it frequently.

Zeng Li saw Liu Zhou's expression twisted like a doughnut and said with a smile:

"This is black chicken soup, very nutritious."

"Kill me, I can't drink any more."

"This is what Auntie worked hard to make all morning. If we don't finish it, she will come over and make us finish it later."

"Haven't you finished your confinement? Why is my mom still making soup for you?"

Hearing Liu Zhou's words, Zeng Li also said with a bitter face:
"Auntie said it would replenish milk."

In fact, not only Liu Zhou, but Zeng Li had already been tired of eating it.

She has always been a plump type, and she has gained weight since she became pregnant and gave birth.

If Zeng Li had not decided to gradually retire, she would go crazy seeing herself now. Even if she walked out, not many people would recognize her.

If fans saw this, the filter would definitely be shattered.

But every time she saw the child beside her, Zeng Li suddenly felt that it was nothing. Even if she got fat, she could lose weight later.

So during this period, although Zeng Li was fed up, she forced herself to drink the various soups made by the two elders for her for the sake of her children.

"Well, she was afraid that her precious grandson would go hungry, so she came to torture his son."

In order to avoid their mother's nagging, Liu Zhou and Zeng Li endured the discomfort and drank the big bowl of black chicken soup together.

After a while, Zeng Li looked at the manuscript on the table and asked:
"Are you writing a new script? Didn't you just finish filming The Martian?"

“Isn’t next year the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China? The higher-ups have assigned Golden Harvest a task to shoot a tribute film, and I’m just writing the script for this tribute film.

But it is not original, but adapted from a novel, which I watched the other day, The Sound of Wind. "

"Is the script difficult to write? I see you seem to be having a hard time."

"is a bit."

Afterwards, Liu Zhou briefly shared some of his thoughts and concerns with Zeng Li.

Zeng Li listened and said with a smile:

“I think you are being too picky. If you want to make a good movie, just write the script as a commercial movie and don’t think too much about other things.

If there are different opinions from above, won’t this be something that can be communicated?"

Liu Zhou was stunned when he heard Zeng Li's words, but when he thought about it carefully, he realized that he was really being too picky.

We want to preserve the original exciting storyline and satisfy the higher-ups at the same time.

But what Liu Zhou should consider most is to satisfy the audience.

"That's true. Now I have an idea."

"Then you write first, I won't bother you."

After saying that, Zeng Li walked out with the dishes and chopsticks, while Liu Zhou began to write the script.

In fact, the original script of "The Sound of Wind" was already quite good, but after Liu Zhou read the original work, he always felt it was a pity.

Moreover, now that I have come to this point, I am a big director in the industry. It is inevitable that my mentality will change. I feel that I can do things that others cannot do, and even do them very well.

To put it simply, Liu Zhou was a little too proud.

After realizing this, Liu Zhou abandoned his previous messy ideas and began to write the script based on the original movie.

However, just as Liu Zhou was writing furiously at home, he unexpectedly received an invitation letter from Huayi.

Liu Zhou opened it and saw that it was an invitation to the premiere of the movie "The Forbidden Kingdom".

"The Forbidden Kingdom" will hold its premiere ceremony at Chaoyang Park on April 26th.

Shortly afterwards, Liu Zhou received calls from Jackie Chan and Jet Li, inviting him to attend the premiere of "The Forbidden Kingdom".

Now Liu Zhou had to go even if he didn't want to.

Liu Zhou may not give face to Huayi, but he has to give face to both Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

Whenever Liu Zhou invited them to any event he organized before, they would come and show their support without saying a word.

This time the two of them invited him, which was a rare occasion, so he had to support them no matter what.

(End of this chapter)