China Entertainment Mythology 2004

Chapter 226 Shark Shore, The Revenant and Fault in the Stars

Yang Mi's breathing rhythm is messed up now.

It's not that she doesn't live up to expectations, it's not that she hasn't seen the market, it's that the entertainment industry is so cruel and realistic, she has seen too much.Today you are still popular, that is, you are full of flowers, and the director, the script, and the investment amount are not delivered to you; tomorrow you will be cold and unpopular, and I would like to kneel down and beg you in the past. The person who plays the leading role will not know you when he turns around, and if you ask for a secondary role instead, you may not be able to get it.

Don't think you are very popular now, but who knows how long this popularity can last?The entertainment industry is changing rapidly, and the only thing actors can do is to keep improving and come up with classic roles that can be remembered by others.

Now Li Mu said that he has a very good script in his hand. To Yang Mi's ears, it means that there is an opportunity to ascend in place in front of her.

Ordinary Zha Jinhua's heart beats faster when he catches a handful of Leopard cards, let alone a great director of Li Mu's level tell an actor that he has a good script?

Under the tension, Yang Mi began to think wildly.

"A few days ago, there was no movie script suitable for me. Why do I have it again today? Is there any difference between today and the previous few days?"

"I seem to say today that I can do everything Bai Bing can do, and that I have a better figure than Bai Bing. Is it related to this?"

At this time, Li Mu went on to say: "This script is very important. Don't look at the record-breaking 11 billion box office of "Cohabitation in Time and Space", but in terms of importance, it may not be as important as this one."

Yang Mi nodded repeatedly and said, "Yeah."

Li Mu continued: ""Cohabitation in Time and Space" is very popular in China, but the overseas box office is very unsatisfactory. The sum is less than 200 million US dollars, but the movie I am talking about now is different. The domestic box office of this movie may not be as good as the former. , but it will definitely achieve a good result overseas.”

This is Li Mu's beginning to draw a big cake for Yang Mi. The operation method is very typical, that is, the more rare the leader makes the opportunity, the more the employees will feel valued, and the more grateful they will be to the boss.

Yang Mi's face became hot when she heard it.

Stars in the entertainment industry, especially those in the current stage, are all eager to gain international influence. To put it bluntly, why are the stars desperately going to the red carpets of major film festivals?In many cases, I would rather be driven away and take a few more photos?Because when I post the photo to the domestic media, it looks very compelling!

Taking a picture on the red carpet would be desperate to grab the camera. If you can star in a movie that is very popular all over the world, how about it?
"Mmmmmmm..."

Yang Mi knew this and kept nodding.

At this time, Li Mu looked up at Yang Mi again and said, "But if you want to star in this movie, you still need to make sacrifices."

Yang Mi heard that she fanned her cheeks with both hands like a fan, then exhaled, and said, "The office is a bit hot—sacrifice? Sacrifice is no problem."

Li Mu smiled and said: "I know you are fine. The plot of this movie is actually very simple, but the theme is the shark theme that foreigners like very much. Have you heard of "Jaws"? It is similar to that, but this time it is a mini version. .”

Yang Mi: "Mmmmm..."

Mind exploded.

"Jaws" is the classic work of Steven Spielberg, the world's number one director. Well, director Li Mu can't say that it is really possible to surpass Spielberg in the future. In short, this movie can win 1975 million US dollars at the box office in 4.7. .

Li Mu: "The plot is very simple. The heroine went surfing on a relatively remote beach alone, but encountered a great white shark, and the heroine was trapped on a reef. As for the sacrifice I just mentioned, the heroine Since we are here for surfing, we must wear a bikini when filming."

Yang Mi stopped her fanning hands: "Ah? This...is this the sacrifice you just mentioned?"

Li Mu: "Otherwise? No matter how large the scale is, it will be difficult to pass the trial."

Yang Mi: "Hehe...hehe...it is indeed a great sacrifice..."

……

After Yang Mi left, Li Mu turned his attention to the upcoming release of "The Revenant". He made several phone calls one after another to discuss distribution and promotion matters with the film's distributors at home and abroad.

The release date of the film was finally set on October 10th. There were no strong rival films to be released during this schedule. The only one that could be called a certain threat was "Steel Armor" starring Uncle Wolf Hugh Jackman. The Douban movie has a score of 7 points, which shows that it is still very popular with the Chinese people. The box office of Yuanshikong in China is 8.3 million yuan, which is not bad. The box office of "Iron Man 1.22", which was released 3 years earlier, was only 1 million yuan in China.

In Li Mu's memory, the North American box office of "Steel Armor" was 8500 million US dollars, and the global box office was 3.17 million US dollars. Compared with the production cost, this box office result is generally considered a success.

As the release approaches, whether it is "Armourer" or "The Revenant", large-scale promotional activities have been launched. Judging from the promotional effect, the popularity of the two films can be called very good.

But this time domestic netizens seem to have little confidence in Li Mu.

What are the labels on "Iron Armor and Steel Fist"?Men and mechs, science fiction, blood, commercial blockbusters, etc.

Let's look at "The Revenant" again. Who in China doesn't know that this movie is a bait for Li Mu?Director Li Mu invited Xiao Lizi and Tom Hanks to star Cobb in "Inception" respectively. As a result, both of them rejected Director Li at first. Director Li had no choice but to come up with two Oscars. script to bundle the invitation.

As a result, "Inception" created a global box office miracle, and one of the bait "Manchester by the Sea" also won the Oscar for Best Actor and Best Picture.

But the award goes to the award, and the award does not affect the fact that Chinese people still can't see this "Manchester by the Sea", and the box office of this film is also very dismal.

Now that another bundled bait is about to be released, no one will object to saying that "The Revenant" has a chance to win an award, but how high can this movie be at the box office?
Is "Manchester by the Sea" a box office hit?
In fact, they are not as good as ordinary movies. Since the same type of "Manchester by the Sea" even won the Oscar for Best Picture, it will not affect its unsatisfactory box office, so how strong can the same type of "The Revenant" be? go?
Some netizens even simply stated on the Internet that they actually like Li Mu's movies very much, but this time he will not go to the theater to watch this "The Revenant". There are many ways to support Li Mu. He would rather choose this year's Spring Festival file Time to brush Li Mu's "Not Embarrassed".

It's not that I don't support Li Mu anymore, it's because I really can't lift my spirits for this kind of pure American story, or an award-winning drama.

The views of this netizen basically represent the views of a large part of the netizen.

On Douban.com, the "want to watch" message under "Iron Armor and Steel Fist" means that you must watch it, hear that it is very good, look forward to it, like this type of film, etc.

And when it came to the part of "The Revenant", the style of the message became like this: Come on, get another Oscar; I don't want to watch it, but I hope to win an award; It would be nice to sweep the Oscars just like "Manchester"; Li Mu will really be a god if he wins another award!

It seems that apart from Li Mu himself, there are not many people who are optimistic about the box office performance of "The Revenant", so why is Li Mu himself optimistic about "The Revenant"?

Of course it was because he was a time traveler!

In the original time and space, the North American box office of "Armor and Steel" was 8500 million U.S. dollars, while the figure of "The Revenant Hunter" was 1.83 million U.S. dollars, and the latter was 2.2 times that of the former.

"Armourer" grossed $3.17 million worldwide, while "The Revenant" grossed $5.32 million worldwide.

The domestic box office of "Steel Armor" is 1.22 million yuan, while the domestic box office of "The Revenant" is 3.76 million yuan.

Although "The Revenant" is indeed a typical Olympic film, its box office performance in each market is significantly better than "Armoured Steel".

But letting domestic netizens misunderstand that this is a boring Oscar movie is not enough, so Li Mu asked the propaganda department to focus on the production cost of this movie.

The actual production cost of "The Revenant" is as high as 1.2 million US dollars, which ranks among the top among all Li Mu's blockbuster films. Such a large investment is just a dull Oscar drama?

This is obviously an epic blockbuster similar to "The Rest of a Deserted Island", in the style of the Count of Monte Cristo!

That's basically it. "Rest of a Deserted Island" has a lot of fans in China, so let's focus on bundling and promoting the two films, plus where the production costs are, I hope to reverse netizens' concerns that this is a "boring foreign country" "Drama" impression.

……

In the evening, Liu Yifei curled up on the sofa at home and talked on the phone with Zhang Liangying. During the period, Liu Yifei also talked about what happened between her and Li Mu at the 14th China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival and the Centennial Celebration of the Birth of Chinese Films. The cake invited Li Mu, and then Li Mu returned to invite her with the celebration fireworks.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Jingying couldn't close her mouth when she heard this, and said while laughing that Li Mu and Liu Yifei really didn't stay in the same family.

"I didn't expect Director Li to have such a trick! Tell me, what other impressive things has he done?"

Liu Yifei thought for a while, and then said: "He doesn't know much about romance, but he said something the other day, and I was very happy after hearing it."

"Say it quickly, what did he say?"

Liu Yifei said: "He said he saved the Milky Way in his previous life, so he can have me in this life."

"Ah? That's it? You're moved just because of that? Yifei, to be honest, I'm really afraid that one day you will be kidnapped."

Liu Yifei said again: "Actually, it's not. This sentence really sounds like nothing now, but at that time...at that time?"

Zhang Liangying on the other end of the phone suddenly realized: "At that time? He couldn't have just said that while lying on top of you, right?"

"Ah? No...how do you...actually..."

"Did I tell you?"

……

Well, in fact, women spend more time chatting than men. They can really talk about very, very specific details, but Liu Yifei and Zhang Jingying are more restrained. After all, they are stars. Although everyone trusts each other, but in case What about when it gets out?

Paying attention to words and deeds is already instinctive.

In short, Liu Yifei said seriously in the end: "Actually, the reason why I was very touched by that sentence was because... because that was exactly what I was thinking at the time, what I wanted to say to him but I hadn't had time to say it and couldn't say it, and then He was the first to say it out of the blue, so there is a special feeling of sympathy."

Then the two talked about the fact that female stars in the entertainment industry are very envious of Liu Yifei, "Taken" trilogy, "Inception", "The Hunger Games", "Doomsday Collapse", such world-class blockbuster resources, other A star may not have the opportunity to get one in his life, but Liu Yifei has so many top resources that he even has no schedule to act, it is really popular.

Then Liu Yifei said:

"Actually, in Hua Shang's films, I can't act in whatever I want. Sometimes there will be situations where I like a character very much, but I just can't tell him."

Zhang Jingying asked: "Why can't you tell him? Is the role not suitable? If it is really not suitable, you will definitely not want to act. If it is suitable, why can't you tell him?"

Liu Yifei said: "Because it may affect the box office, I can't affect his career just because I like it."

Then Liu Yifei mentioned a novel called "Incomparably Beautiful Pain" written by Li Mu.The sales volume of this novel can easily rank in the top four among all Li Mu's novels, and the current global sales volume is close to 1500 million copies.

The novel tells the story of love, life and death between two teenagers with cancer.Liu Yifei fell in love with this novel from the first time he read it. When he read it, he even cried when he was moved.

It can be said that from the first time she saw this novel, there was a voice in her heart telling herself: She wants to play the heroine in the novel!

But this novel has a great influence in North America. Teenagers all over the United States cried miserably because of this novel. The hero and heroine in the book are typical white youths. Asians, I am afraid there will be a great chance to affect the film's box office.

But it's not absolute. "The Hunger Games" replaced the heroine with Liu Yifei. In practice, the result is still good.

But after all, the risk has become higher, so although Liu Yifei likes it very much, she has never revealed to Li Mu that she wants to act.

However, what Liu Yifei didn't notice was that Li Mu had already returned home at this moment, and he just overheard the phone call between her and Zhang Jingying.

In fact, the novel "Incomparably Wonderful Pain" has entered Li Mu's adaptation plan at this time, but after the novel is adapted into a movie, it will no longer be called this name, but will be changed to "The Fault in Our Stars".

That's right, it was "The Fault in Our Stars", which beat Tom Cruise's 700 million production cost blockbuster in the North American market with a production cost of only 1.78 million.

700 million beats 1.78 million. Many people may instinctively think that this movie with a cost of 1.78 million US dollars must be a big bad movie, but it is not. This blockbuster movie was scored 47 by 8.2 people on Douban.

Well, we are talking about "Edge of Tomorrow". In fact, Li Mu quite likes this film, and the right to adapt this film is still in Li Mu's hands, but in the North American market it just lost to "Star Wars". Fault in luck".

The North American box office of "The Fault in Our Stars" was 1.24 million U.S. dollars, while "Edge of Tomorrow" with a cost of 1.78 million U.S. dollars was only 1 million U.S. dollars.

However, the global box office is still higher than that of "Edge of Tomorrow".

"The Fault in Our Stars" has a global box office of 3.07 million US dollars, and "Edge of Tomorrow" is 3.7 million US dollars.

Liu Yifei wants to play "The Fault in Our Stars"?
Will Li Mu agree?
Actually not.

Because he has a better way.

(End of this chapter)