The King of Directors 2000

Chapter 559: No. [-] in Korea
2012年的6月15日晚上11点30分，汉城江南区的一家影城大门外。

A long-haired woman wearing a black peaked cap, a pink mask, long sleeves, and jeans and sneakers was standing on the roadside. She was about 1.7 meters tall and had a graceful figure. She could be seen no matter which direction she looked. A heart-warming figure.

There are many girls on the street who work out or are in science and technology, but their figures are not as attractive as this girl's.

And judging from her exposed skin, she is very white, so white that it glows.

This woman is undoubtedly a beauty.

Many men passing by were ready to make a move and stepped forward to show off their strength. Some showed off their brand-name watches, some parked their luxury cars directly, and some deliberately struck up a conversation in English.

"Beauty, let's play together?"

"no thank you."

Shirley smiled and rolled her eyes, looking even more coquettish, and then politely refused when the man opposite her was crying.

"1000 million, stay with me for one night, 1000 million."

The sex industry on the peninsula is developed. At the south gate of Seoul, the average salary for a job is only 30 to [-] yuan per night.

The quote of 1000 million is really high.

Shirley still smiled and shook her head, "No, thank you."

Seeing Shirley's refusal of 1000 million, the other men stopped.

Peninsula men are notoriously stingy, and they are reluctant to spend so much money.

At this moment, an ordinary modern car drove up, and a girl got out wearing a long shirt, a small suit, and a short skirt and high-top shoes.

This girl also wears a black hat, a pink mask, and has the same long hair shawl.

Although not as good as Shirley, she is much better than the average girl on the street.

"It can't be a female idol, right?"

Someone guessed.

Shirley saw the person coming and greeted him happily, "You're finally here."

This girl in a small suit is Shirley's best friend - Li Zhien.

Many people in the K-pop idol circle are from very good families and live a privileged life. Even if they are not idols, they can still live a life that ordinary people would envy.

Li Zhien and Shirley are special. They belong to the extremely poor category. If they are not idols, they will really starve to death.

Li Zhien's parents are ordinary office workers, but they are not white-collar workers, but factory workers.

She has been a left-behind child since she was a child. Her parents went to work in Seoul, while she and her brother lived with their grandmother.

It is said that many times when the family ran out of money, grandma pawned jewelry to make ends meet.

As for Shirley, it was even worse.

Li Zhien's family was finally reunited, but when Shirley was very young, her parents divorced.

She and her brothers lived with their mother.

But her mother is a bastard who takes care of her children and doesn't care about their children. She doesn't care about her three children at all.

Shirley's only support is her brother, who earns money to support her.

Later, the two signed a contract with a brokerage company, but they didn't like to go home because the company provided a place to live and enough food, which were conditions they didn't have at home.

Similar experiences made the two people hit it off and quickly became each other's best friends.

Li Zhien was holding a bag in her hand. She took out a cup of hot coffee from the bag, handed it to Shirley, and then said, "What's the matter with you? Why do you still smile at those stinky men when they talk to them?"

"They didn't hurt me. They wanted to be friends with me. Why should I be cold-faced?"

Shirley happily took the coffee, and then drank it while replying.

"You, you, those men just want to sleep with you, but they don't really want to be with you. Don't think that because they look kind, they are good people. Their thoughts are very disgusting."

Shirley lacked love since she was a child, and her brother was the only one who cared about her.

As a result, she longs for love. Even if some men have bad intentions, she will not reject them immediately. Instead, she enjoys the feeling of being sought after.

Li Zhien has long known about the temperament of her best friend. She has tried to persuade her many times, hoping that Shirley can change to avoid encountering scumbags in the future.

Shirley smiled and nodded, "I know, let's go, the movie is about to start."

The two people are not from the same brokerage company.

As they quickly became popular on the peninsula, they spent less and less time together.

I happen to have some time recently, and the two of them plan to have fun together. First, they will watch a movie, then go singing, then go drinking. They will do nothing tomorrow and just hold each other and have a good sleep.

There are quite a lot of movies coming out of the peninsula recently, including not only local movies on the peninsula, but also Hollywood movies, animated movies from the island country, and a movie from China.

This movie from China is called "Parasite". It will be released at [-] o'clock tonight. It is said that it has a good reputation.

Two little girls planned to watch "Parasite" together.

Shirley actually doesn't care, Li Zhien is more ambitious. She not only wants to be an excellent singer, but also wants to be an excellent actor.

Of course, it may be that she is afraid of being eliminated. She knows that in Peninsula, actors have higher qualifications and longer acting careers.

As long as there are good movies, Li Zhien will watch them, hoping to improve himself.

"I heard that your boss took you drinking again?"

Sulli belongs to the Silly Fake Company, and everyone in the Korean circle knows that Lee Soo Man likes to take Lim Yoona and Sulli to chaebol cocktail parties.

Basically, the two of them are just pretending to be the company's external appearance.

Shirley nodded, not caring, "Don't worry, sister Yoona and I will be fine together."

Li Zhien is shorter and thinner, and looks more like a younger sister. However, in the relationship between the two of them, she plays the role of the older sister. She reached out and patted Shirley's arm.

"Don't expect others. Those rich people really want to do bad things. Do you think Yoona can stop them? Yoona is just afraid that she can't protect herself."

When Shirley heard this, her eyes curled up with a smile, "I know, I'll be careful."

When Li Zhien saw this, he knew that his friend didn't take it to heart. He felt helpless and could only decide to chat with her the next time they met.

Soon after, the two people arrived at the theater and sat down in two seats near the aisle.

Shirley stood up as soon as she sat down, "I'm going to buy snacks."

She didn't really care about the movie.

Li Zhien nodded, "Bring me a Coke."

Not long after, Shirley came back. She handed a cup of Coke and a bucket of popcorn to Li Zhien, and then smiled: "I just saw a few men, they must have just finished watching "Parasite", and they were squatting on the ground crying. .”

Li Zhien laughed when he heard this, "These are people with weak wills. I will never cry."

She has always been mature. Since entering the entertainment industry, she has gained more knowledge and a more determined character. She has not cried for several years.

She then smiled at Shirley and said, "Don't cry."

Shirley is more sensitive and cries more easily when watching movies.

Shirley raised her head proudly and hummed softly.

Her fair and slender neck was exposed, and Li Zhien smiled enviously.

The lights in the theater went out and "Parasite" officially began.

It starts in a low basement. The male protagonist and his family sit together and blow water, and then someone pees in front of their window.

Then there was no signal at home, and my son and daughter were running around with their mobile phones. Finally, they squatted next to the toilet in order to connect to the wifi upstairs.

My son's classmate came over and introduced his job. He thought he was a good person.

As a result, this classmate directly stated his intention.

He wanted to study abroad, but he couldn't let go of the rich man's daughter. The reason why he introduced the actor's son there was because in his eyes, his son had nothing but good grades in English.

A rich man’s daughter will never like the hero’s son.

Then his son successfully became an English tutor, and then his daughter successfully became a painting teacher. However, the rich man did not take them seriously, and did not say hello when they met at home.

Then the male protagonist went to apply for a driver job, but was rejected by the rich man. The rich man even tested the male protagonist with a cup of coffee.

In the end, the hero's wife joins a wealthy family as a nanny. Everything seems to be going smoothly for the hero's family, but the wealthy couple does not regard them as human beings and still dislikes their smell.

At this point in the plot, no matter how the male protagonist's family operates, it seems that they have found a stable job and are developing for the better.

But in the eyes of the wealthy couple, they are all unimportant people, and they show their neglect in a subtle way.

Li Zhien was still smoking Coke and chewing popcorn, but when he saw this, he was no longer in such a mood.

She stared at the big screen blankly, and she had a deep understanding of the situation of the hero's family.

It is not only the embarrassing living environment, but also the neglect from other classes.

The peninsula is a place where class barriers are very serious.

When she was a child, her family was poor and she was a left-behind child. Some classmates with better living conditions were unwilling to talk to her.

Later, she became an idol, and she looked very beautiful, but in fact, the white-collar workers in big companies still looked down upon them.

As for the legendary chaebol, with Li Zhien's appearance and figure, it is impossible to attract others' attention.

Li Zhien feels like a male protagonist who is looked down upon by people with more money.

The movie continues. After briefly enjoying life in the villa, the male protagonist's family is quickly knocked down. Then they come to the birthday party of the rich man's son, and his daughter is killed. The male protagonist is furious, assassinates the rich man, and finally escapes in panic.

At the end of the movie, the male protagonist is not dead. He hides in the basement of the villa and often sneaks out in the middle of the night to find food.

He looks like a parasite, very shameless and disgusting.

Li Zhien held his chin with one hand and looked seriously at the big screen.

She didn't cry, she was a determined person and she wouldn't let herself cry in public.

But she was really uncomfortable, as if someone had taken off her mask, revealed her face, and then used a loudspeaker to announce to the world that Li Zhien was originally a poor person, and she wanted to climb up. Wanting to escape her original class.

The movie looks contemptuous and contemptuous of the poor.

Li Zhien was very uncomfortable. She didn't like the portrayal in the movie, as if the poor were guilty and as if the poor people's efforts were a joke.

At this moment, a burst of applause broke out, but it was other audience members who clapped their hands and applauded.

Li Zhien came back to his senses, thought calmly, and realized that this movie was simply telling the story of the peninsula.

Basements, college entrance examinations, studying abroad, English craze, as well as coffee, cram schools, drivers, expensive housing prices, all the details are exactly the same as Peninsula.

If the people in the movie hadn't spoken Mandarin, the plaques on the street would have been written in Traditional Chinese.

It really makes people doubt that it is not Hong Kong Island, but Seoul.This movie can definitely resonate with the people of the Peninsula. Whether it is praising the rich or ridiculing the poor, the people of the Peninsula must be deeply moved.

"Woooooo."

Shirley was crying, sobbing quietly.

"what's wrong?"

"The hero's daughter died. I feel so pitiful for her."

Li Zhien waved his hand, "It's just an artistic design for the movie. Don't think too much. Let's go and sing and drink."

"Do you still want to sing?" Shirley wiped her tears, "I want to eat something and then go to bed."

"Parasite" also made Shirley very uncomfortable. She was not in the mood to sing or drink.

"If you're not in a good mood, you should do something to cheer yourself up. Don't be afraid, I'm with you."

Li Zhien comforted her gently and made a cheering gesture.

Shirley thought about it and saw Li Zhien's expectant eyes. She didn't want to disappoint Li Zhien, "Okay, let's go sing."

The two went on to sing, but then they did not go to drink. Instead, they ate something and went back to sleep.

Li Zhien didn't want to let "Parasite" affect her mood, but she had to say that this movie had great stamina. When she stopped to rest, she would always think about it unconsciously, and the more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she became.

She seemed to see herself. At a certain time, she was abandoned by capital, and in the end she could only become a despicable parasite like the male protagonist.

In the next few days, Li Zhien couldn't help but think about the plot of "Parasite" and the ending of the hero's family and the rich family. She couldn't help but look up the information about "Parasite".

"Parasite" earned [-] million won on its premiere day on Peninsula, setting a record for the highest opening day this year. Many local films and Hollywood blockbusters were not as good as "Parasite".

Following the first three days, the following week, and the third week, "Parasite" won the box office championship for three consecutive weeks without any suspense.

This movie really exploded in Peninsula.

It's not just a general explosion, it's an explosion that triggers national discussion.

Many people say that this movie reflects the story of the Peninsula.

There are also many people calling on young people not to curl up, not to be so tired, and just lie flat.

With such high popularity, the Peninsula has many new local films and Hollywood blockbusters at the end of June and early July.

For example, "Special Forces 2: Retaliation", "Magic Mike", "The Amazing Spider-Man", and "Ice Age 4: Continental Drift" did not stop the trend of "Parasite" grabbing the box office.

With nearly 300 million moviegoers, "Parasite" has directly become the highest-grossing movie on the Peninsula so far in 2012.

As of the time of release, the total box office of Peninsula has reached 680 billion, and about [-] million people have lost money.

It became the highest-grossing Chinese-language, non-English-language film on the peninsula.

Li Zhien even saw relevant box office news, which said that the total box office of "Parasite" in mainland China was around [-] million yuan.

The total box office of "Parasite" in beautiful countries is US$500 million.

In other words, the cumulative box office of "Parasite" in Peninsula should be the highest in a single country in the world.

The box office of this movie in the peninsula actually exceeded that of the United States and China, the two strongest economies in the world.

Li Zhien was shocked when he saw this data. Do people on the Peninsula like "Parasite" so much?

What happened to the people of the peninsula?
Have you been poisoned by Li Shengyao?
……

The box office of "Parasite" in the peninsula is actually the first in any country in the world, surpassing the United States and China.

This incident was immediately sensationalized by the Peninsula media.

Reporters from KBS and SBS went to the mainland to interview Lee Sheng-yew.

"I'm very happy that the audience on the Peninsula likes to watch "Parasite". In fact, I once had a dream. In the dream, I saw the results of "Parasite" on the Peninsula, with a total of [-] million viewers. Now that I have received [-] million yuan, I think it’s pretty good.”

Media in the Peninsula were puzzled by Li Shengyao's somewhat incomprehensible words.

However, this does not affect the performance and high popularity of "Parasite" on the Peninsula.

Such achievements make many filmmakers in the peninsula tremble with fear.

The peninsula has a small market to begin with, and relying on the people's fanatical movie-watching habits, they have barely managed to maintain the peninsula's film industry.

If more excellent Chinese-language films enter the peninsula and reap the box office success like "Parasite", then local filmmakers will be in trouble.

Before, when Hollywood movies entered the peninsula, local filmmakers had to cut off their fingers.

After the results of "Parasite" came out, a group of Peninsula filmmakers immediately prepared knives to cut off their fingers, and demanded that the Peninsula Cultural Port establish a treaty to prevent Chinese films from entering the Peninsula in large numbers.

Park Il-il, the section chief of the Korean Wave Cultural Center of the Peninsula Cultural Port, received the information and immediately called the petitioning filmmakers to his office.

"Don't worry, everyone. We will study and analyze your demands carefully. I can guarantee that we will restrict Chinese-language films from entering the peninsula and will not let Chinese-language films destroy our film industry."

If dad’s Hollywood blockbusters can’t stop him, why can’t he stop the Chinese-language movies next door?
Park Yitian did not take this matter to heart. He vowed to make his attitude clear to the filmmakers.

He is very aware of the attitude of the peninsula’s top leaders.

Dad is first. As for China, he is ranked last. You don’t need to worry about it.

Seeing Park's attitude, all the filmmakers breathed a sigh of relief. Who is willing to cut off their fingers? There is really no other way.

"Chief Park, we must do it as soon as possible. In recent years, Chinese-language films have improved very quickly. We cannot let them occupy our market."

The peninsula established a cultural foundation in the last century. They originally wanted to use idol dramas to open up the Southeast Asian market.

As a result, Lee Sheng Yew produced a lot of high-quality idol dramas, completely leaving behind Peninsula dramas and easily occupying the Southeast Asian market.

It even attracts fans on Peninsula, and many Peninsula girls like to watch it.

Nowadays, the number one destination for girls from the Peninsula to marry out is China.

The peninsula has been trying to steal ideas, but in the end it was impossible to steal them.

The peninsula has no cultural heritage and is completely incomparable with the mainland.

Several novel websites in the Mainland are now in full swing and have created many excellent stories.

The mainland's sweet dramas and idol dramas have become the most popular foreign dramas in Southeast Asia, and the peninsula has no way to start.

Moreover, Peninsula Boxing has developed very rapidly. Today’s Peninsula female audiences are increasingly fond of plots with dark and deep characters.

But isn’t the blackness and depth just the routine of American dramas? No matter how good your filming is, can you compare to American dramas?
Under such circumstances, Peninsula filmmakers are really worried that the movie will be a complete failure like the TV series.

Park Yitian felt contempt in his heart. These rookies had no way to compete and would close the country. However, he still agreed very much on the surface, "It doesn't matter. Leave it to me. We will never let Chinese films enter the peninsula on a large scale. "Parasite" is the swan song." ”

There was a burst of applause, and Peninsula filmmakers expressed their attitude by applauding.

……

Lee Sheng Yew was not very clear about the Peninsula Film Market closing its doors to Chinese-language films.

He was currently in Europe promoting Parasite.

Because of his two consecutive Cannes Palme d'Ors and the promotion of Raymond Pictures, Lee Sheng-yew now has some influence in Europe.

Warner wanted Lee Sheng-yew to go to Europe for promotion, so he went there.

It’s been almost a month since “Parasite” was released worldwide.

The box office numbers everywhere are basically out.

The most outstanding one is of course Peninsula. This place contributed 5000 million people and a box office of almost 2012 million US dollars. "Parasite" became the highest-grossing movie in Peninsula in the first half of [-].

In Lee Sheng-yew's previous life, "Parasite" had a box office of 6000 million people in the Peninsula, which was almost [-] million US dollars.

This shows how much people on the Peninsula love this movie.

Others were very surprised by Peninsula's results, but Li Shengyao had expected it.

The second is the mainland market, which received [-] million.

This result is better than the [-] million predicted by Li Shengyao.

But it's not bad at all. "Parasite" has a good reputation in the mainland, but the box office is not that high.

"Painted Skin 2", released at the end of June, gained even more momentum, with a total box office of over [-] million.

Next are beautiful countries, Europe, Hong Kong Island, Wanwan, Xinmatai and other markets.

The box office of "Beautiful Country" is US$500 million. When all European countries are added together, the total box office is about US$[-] billion.

Hong Kong Island has 7000 million. Just as the media predicted, "Parasite" broke the record for Chinese-language films in Hong Kong Island.

Wanwan is less, only 5000 million, and about [-] million people have lost money.

The results of places such as Xinmatai and Xinmatai are not bad, with 3000 million.

In addition, there are island countries and South American countries with 2000 million US dollars here and there.

In the end, overall, "Parasite" should have a global box office of US$[-] million.

A not so exciting drama film received $[-] million, which is undoubtedly very good.

Lee Sheung Yew compiled the statistics and was very happy to see the total box office.

Although the mainland box office was not high, the movie did not lose money.

That is to say, I won a prize and made a lot of money.

Li Shengyao was very satisfied with this movie.

In this case, the mission of this movie is over.

In fact, people from Warner contacted Lee Sung-yew and asked him if he wanted to spend money to lobby for next year's Oscars. They believed that "Parasite" had a good chance of winning the Oscar. In that case, Lee Sing-yew would be more famous and more popular in the film industry. Have status.

In Lee Sheng-yew's previous life, the producers of "Parasite" spent US$500 million as funding for Oscar activities.

Then "The Determination" followed suit and spent 1000 million US dollars as lobbying funds in an attempt to replicate the experience of "Parasite". However, the 1000 million US dollars were wasted.

Li Shengyao refused, he knew it very well.

"Parasite" won the Oscar because Peninsula is a dog, and the father just gave the dog a bone.

In fact, the year after "Parasite" won the Oscar, Peninsula Film collapsed. Only ten films made a profit in 2020. In the first half of 2023, there were not even a single new film project, all of them were previous films.

Lee Sung-yao has a special status, and it is impossible for the Oscar to award him the grand prize.

Unless he can make a movie that the people of all beautiful countries think is good, the judges will choose other movies and they will be reviled by the people.

Before making a movie like this, he didn't even bother to participate in the Oscars. As for spending money to lobby, that was even more impossible.

Director Li will never spend money on lobbying, and will never give money to the judges of Beautiful Country.

(End of this chapter)