Chapter 360: Reverse Zhou and Storm

The listing time of Jiahe Group has been confirmed, and not only Liu Zhou is excited, but other people in the company are equally excited.

Especially the executives who have received shares, they work even more vigorously and vigorously, and are somewhat inappropriately energetic.

This made Liu Zhou seem to have suddenly become free.

Currently, everything is ready for Jiahe's listing, with the only things to be decided being the number of shares and the share price. Zhang Zhao and his team are also actively discussing this with CITIC Securities.

"Interstellar" is currently in the early stages of preparation, so Liu Zhou doesn't have to spend too much time on it.

Look at the photos sent back by the location crew, or go to Golden Harvest Special Effects Studio and discuss matters related to the movie's special effects with them.

Since it is a rare opportunity to take some time off from his busy schedule, Liu Zhou would naturally not look for things to do. He would just stay at home and accompany Zeng Li and his son.

In May, it was rare that nothing happened in the entertainment industry, and there were no eye-catching movies in this year's May Day period.

So the circle also became unusually calm.

But as the most lively circle, how could the entertainment industry calm down?
A temporary calm may also be to accumulate greater energy for subsequent storms.

However, the storm did not start from the mainland. It first formed in Hong Kong and then swept across the entire Chinese entertainment industry.

In mid-May, director Wang Jing went on a radio program to reveal that when Stephen Chow made a guest appearance in "God of Gamblers 2000", he was not very cooperative and the filming of a 7-day drama was completed in 6 days.

This was questioned by the outside world, who believed that Wang Jing was publicly criticizing Stephen Chow.

This would have caused a bit of a stir, after all, in the Hong Kong circle, most people knew that Wang Jing and Stephen Chow were not on good terms, and it was reported even more intensely at the beginning.

Now most people think that this is just Wang Jing's old tune again, or that a movie is about to be released.

But then everyone discovered that things were not that simple. Wang Jing was really attacking Stephen Chow, and he was the one who sounded the clarion call to attack Stephen Chow.

Because shortly afterwards, Chen Lan, vice chairman of the board of directors of Hong Kong's famous film company Yongsheng Entertainment Group, listed Stephen Chow's major crimes in an exclusive interview with Ming Pao Weekly.

It was directly revealed that Wang Jing paid Zhou Xingxing 1000 million yuan to shoot a 10-day drama, but he only arrived on the set at 3 pm every day, his eyes were unfocused, and he was very perfunctory in filming.

When the movie premiered, the producer had to kneel down and beg Stephen Chow to come, but he only came for 3 minutes and then left.

Chen Lan also revealed that when Zhang Baizhi took on a role with Stephen Chow, she was actually asked to shave her head, otherwise she would have to pay 350 million yuan.

With Xiang Tai’s personal involvement, Hong Kong media immediately smelled something different.

So they all went to block Zhou Xingxing, wanting to see how he would respond.

It would be a lively scene if the two sides started a war of words.

However, before Stephen Chow could respond, new attacks on him followed.

The chairman of the Academy Awards, Wen Jun, published an article titled "The Stephen Chow Era Comes to an End", in which he stated that the era of Stephen Chow, who has dominated Chinese films for 20 years, has ended.

The lonely and arrogant Stephen Chow may be about to reach the lowest point in his acting career.

The sharp-tongued Wen Jun even thought that although Zhou Xingxing is wealthy today, he has lost his talent and is so poor that he only has money!
In fact, everyone can understand what Wen Jun is referring to. After entering the new century, Stephen Chow's output has decreased significantly.

Moreover, although "CJ7", which was released last year, achieved a box office of over 100 million yuan, it obviously did not meet everyone's expectations for Stephen Chow.

After all, there were quite a few movies that grossed over 200 million, 300 million, or 400 million yuan at the box office at that time.

"CJ7" was regarded as a classic in later generations, but at that time, this movie, which was not at all like Stephen Chow's, was still criticized and complained by many people.

Whether it is the media or the audience, the evaluation of "CJ7" is quite average. Many people feel that Stephen Chow has run out of ideas and may have passed his creative peak.

But most people in the circle know that Wen Jun is biased.

In the past, Stephen Chow only acted, and of course his output was high, but now he not only acts, but also directs and writes, and Stephen Chow has high requirements for the quality of his films.

So of course the output has been lower.

More importantly, as we all know, after Stephen Chow left Yongsheng Entertainment, it became very difficult for him to attract investment in the circle.

Although the reputation of "CJ7" is not satisfactory, who in the circle, especially the Hong Kong circle, has not acted in a bad movie?
What's more, "CJ7" is not bad, it just feels not as good as Stephen Chow's previous movies.

However, the outside world is not very clear about this, so Wen Jun's article has sparked quite a lot of discussion.

After all, Wen Jun's influence in the circle has increased a lot in the past two years because of the successful reform of the Academy Awards, although he is only a nominal executor.

Not only that, he originally worked behind the scenes, but because of his contribution to the reform of the Academy Awards, he has also become quite well-known in the mainland.

Therefore, his article was not only reprinted crazily in Hong Kong, but also spread to the mainland, where it immediately caused huge heated discussion.

However, due to the exaggeration of some Hong Kong media, when Wen Jun's article was transmitted to the mainland, the title had become "Academy Awards Chairman Wen Jun blasts Stephen Chow for being outdated!"

Although Wen Jun has left a good impression on people in the mainland, who is he criticizing this time?
It’s Master Stephen!
Zhou Xingxing has a huge number of fans in mainland China and is very popular among the public.

Therefore, Wen Jun still caused a lot of backlash from Stephen Chow's fans. Some people may not have read the content of his article, but were angry just by the title, and they complained crazily under his Weibo. This directly caused the comments on Wen Jun's Weibo to collapse, and some of his fans, including himself, were useless no matter how they explained.

But soon, to his relief, a large number of Hong Kong artists came out to criticize Stephen Chow, helping him to share a lot of the firepower.

Luo Jiaying, who played Tang Monk in "A Chinese Odyssey" and was able to buy a house because of his collaboration with Stephen Chow, said in an interview when talking about Stephen Chow that this person attaches too much importance to money.

He also revealed that Stephen Chow was not kind in the past and did not pay any salary for making more films.

That is, when Stephen Chow invited him to film "A Chinese Odyssey", he stated that it was going to be a movie, but in the end the film was cut into two parts.

Luo Jiaying once requested that the remuneration for the two dramas be calculated based on the two dramas, but in the end Zhou Xingxing did not pay any money and did not give a reasonable explanation.

Afterwards, Du Qifeng directly stated that he felt that Stephen Chow had made no contribution to the Hong Kong film industry.

Although he is very talented, his talent will not bring progress to Hong Kong people and the film industry. I admire his talent, but I don't admire him as a person.

Finally, Li Xiuxian, who brought Stephen Chow to debut and made him famous, also walked to the front of the stage and said half-sarcastically that people should be honest. Money is not everything. Friends are more valuable. Sometimes when you have something to do, you can find a friend to chat with just by making a phone call!

The others were fine, but Li Xiuxian also came out to criticize Stephen Chow, which did put him in a passive position.

Because most of Stephen Chow's fans or people who know him well know that he was indeed brought up by Li Xiuxian.
He attracted much attention because of his role in "霹雳先锋" invested and starred by Li Xiuxian, and won the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Newcomer at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

After that, after collaborating with Liu Zhenwei in "God of Gamblers", his career soared to fame.

So, it can be said that Li Xiuxian did help Stephen Chow. Before that, Stephen Chow was just a supporting actor and no one knew him at all.

Now that he has come out to criticize Stephen Chow as his benefactor, the impact is indeed not small.

In just a few days, Stephen Chow frequently made headlines in the entertainment industry.

All of his former partners came out to talk about his gossip, and for a while, Zhou Xingxing, who was once so popular on stage, became the target of public criticism.

He, who had been continuing to write the myth of creating stars in the film industry, seemed to have suddenly become a hateful person who forgot his principles and broke his promises when he saw profit.

However, in the face of such overwhelming public opinion, there are people who speak up for Stephen Chow.

The first to be affected was Mo Wenwei. She said that Stephen Chow is a talented director and actor and we should protect him, and the news on the Internet about him being greedy for money and forgetting his principles are pure fabrication.

Later, Liu Zhenwei, a famous Hong Kong director who has worked with Stephen Chow many times, publicly stated that everyone has an ego, and if you give a director some advice and say he is being a big shot, then it is the director's fault...

So it depends on how you communicate. I don’t understand why others think he has a bad character.

In addition to these two Hong Kong artists, there are also people in the mainland who are not afraid of the Xiang family's power and directly speak out in support.

For example, Ning Hao publicly expressed his support for Stephen Chow on Weibo:

Many people have some misunderstandings about Stephen Chow. Everyone says that he is difficult to get along with. In fact, he is not. He is a very good person, but he is not very good at expressing his emotions.

Even though Ning Hao rarely socializes and usually sticks to his small circle, it's rare to hear news about him except when his movies are released.

But like Stephen Chow, he is a person who is very devout to movies.

Stephen Chow has always been his idol and role model. Ning Hao has expressed his admiration for Stephen Chow in public more than once.

However, compared to those who criticize Stephen Chow, there are very few people who openly support him, and many people dare not speak out easily.

Although the Xiang family is not as powerful as before, it is still a big family in the circle. Most people dare not offend them, unless you are like Ning Hao, who has the protection of a big company like Jiahe behind you.

Therefore, most of the media reports are news criticizing Stephen Chow.

However, unlike these media, netizens almost unanimously support Stephen Chow.

"Master Xing has always been the best actor in my heart. He founded a school of his own and no one can surpass him. There have been a lot of rumors recently. I want to make my position clear here. I love Master Xing and will support him all my life!"

"Master Xing is a genius! I always see people saying bad things about him, but I never see Master Xing saying bad things about others."

"Xiang Tai is so stupid. She keeps bringing up something that happened so long ago. Now that she's not doing well, she can't stand seeing others doing better. I will always support Master Xing!"

"Hold on, Master Xing, we will always support you!"

"..."

Liu Zhou was originally just a spectator, although he admired and even respected Stephen Chow in his heart, his current identity was after all special.

Besides, he and Stephen Chow don’t have much in common. There have been many noisy things in the entertainment industry, but this time it’s just on a bigger scale.

So Liu Zhou just acted as a spectator, watching the show online, and it just so happened that he had some free time now.

However, Liu Zhou just wanted to watch the show quietly, but he was surprised to receive a phone call.

(End of this chapter)