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Chapter 827 Unparalleled Energy

In today's domestic film market, the Spring Festival period undoubtedly has the highest box office and the most intense competition, and is one of the top periods of the year.

Then comes the Lunar New Year, summer vacation and National Day periods.

The Lunar New Year period used to be the biggest box office, but now it has been replaced by the Spring Festival period, but a lean camel is still bigger than a horse.

Thanks to the students' vacation, the summer season has produced top-tier blockbusters such as "Wolf Warrior 2" and "Detective Chinatown 2", which have sold billions of dollars.

The National Day holiday was popular due to the popularity of main-theme movies in recent years. The hot sales of movies such as "My Country, My Parents" and "My Hometown and I" have brought the National Day holiday to a climax.

The May Day holiday is slightly shorter, so its box office and popularity are far less than the previous four periods, but it is still better than Valentine's Day, Qingming Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and other holidays.

The competition in this year's May Day period is quite fierce, with seven new domestic films choosing to be released during this period.

Relying on the huge box office advantage accumulated in the early stage of its release, the movie "Your Wedding" won the May Day championship with a box office of 6.6 million.

Following closely behind is the spy war blockbuster "On the Cliff" directed by Zhang Yimou, which ranked second with a box office of 5.7 million yuan.

Judging from the box office alone, "Your Wedding" is undoubtedly the biggest winner. The film achieved a super high box office of 1.4 million on the first day of its release. In just three days, the cumulative box office exceeded 4.24 million. For a low-cost domestic romance film, this is obviously an unimaginable big hit.

Although "Your Wedding" had good box office performance, its reputation was very average.

The Douban score is only 5.2 points, and the comments are full of criticism.

But such a movie won the May Day box office championship. It can only be said that the film company’s marketing was indeed in place.

New actress Zhang Ruonan also gained popularity thanks to the movie and was hailed as the new "national first love" by many fans, quite a bit like Michelle Chen when "Those Years" was a hit.

[On the Cliff] brings together many powerful actors such as Zhang Yi, Yu Hewei, Qin Hailu, etc., plus the fame of director Zhang Yimou, the film has received countless attention before it was released.

After the movie was released, it did not disappoint. The actors' outstanding acting skills and the ups and downs of the whole movie won unanimous praise from the audience.

As word of mouth continues to spread, "On the Cliff" has surpassed "Your Wedding" in single-day box office for many consecutive days. Judging from the current situation, it is only a matter of time before the box office surpasses "Your Wedding".

Apart from the two films mentioned above competing for the top spot, the other works are basically evenly matched.

[Sweeping Black and the Decisive Battle] has a cumulative box office of 1.24 million yuan, [Chasing Tigers and Catching Dragons] has a cumulative box office of 1.65 million yuan, and [Secret Visitors] has a box office of 1.92 million yuan. These three movies form the "second echelon" of the May Day period.

The two movies at the end of the queue are "Sunny Robbers" starring Ma Li and Song Jia, and "Searching for a Man" starring Ren Suxi and Li Baotian.

"Sunny Robbers" earned 4000 million yuan at the box office during the May Day holiday, while "Seeking a Man" only had a pitiful 232 million yuan.

But although both films were the last in the standings, they are very different.

The rating of "The Eye Robbers" is only 4.2, which is not as good as "Your Wedding". It is a completely bad movie.

Although "The Hunting Trip" had the lowest box office, its rating was second only to "On the Cliff", ranking second among the movies with a rating of 6.9.

[Sunny Robbers] flopped because the movie was really bad. Without Shen Teng, Ma Li alone could not carry the box office.

The problem with "Lost in Hong Kong" was that the publicity and promotion failed to keep up. The original investment cost of the film was very low, and the money invested in publicity and promotion was even more limited. In addition, there were no famous traffic stars, and the final box office was naturally not ideal.

"Why wasn't your film "The Crowd" scheduled for the May Day holiday?"

During the lunch break on the set of "Changjin Lake", Wu Jing and Gu Wei were chatting about the recently released movies.

After taking leave for a while, Gu Wei returned to the crew to continue filming after finishing all his work.

The filming of [Changjin Lake] - or to be more precise, [Watergate Bridge] has also reached the final stage and will be wrapped up in about a month.

“We originally planned to release it during the May Day holiday, but after communicating with the theater chain, they wanted to release “The Crowd” in mid-May, hoping to use this movie to fill the market gap after the May Day holiday.

The cinema chain has guaranteed the number of screenings, so I don’t think it’s that important whether it’s released during the May Day holiday.” Gu Wei picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs from the bowl and said as he ate.

Wu Jing nodded and suddenly thought of something.

"I remember that [Fast and Furious 9] will also be released this month, right?"

“Yes, in the week after [The Crowd].”

"Aren't you afraid of competing with Fast and Furious 9 and affecting the box office of the movie?"

Wu Jing's worries are not unreasonable. You know, the "Fast and Furious" series has a lot of fans in China.

"Fast and Furious 7" and "Fast and Furious 8" each earned over 20 billion yuan in the Chinese market at the box office, so this year's "Fast and Furious 9" is also highly anticipated by the audience.

Gu Wei smiled and said, "What are you afraid of? The movie "The Crowd" will be released a week earlier, so it has the first-mover advantage. Besides, it's better if the market is heated up. A single tree cannot make a forest. Competition is actually good for the box office."

"That's right. With your box office appeal, you don't have to worry about Fast & Furious 9, unless this movie can be as explosive as Avengers 4."

Gu Wei looked at Wu Jing with a smile, but he was secretly shaking his head in his heart.

How can "Fast and Furious 9" possibly compare to "Avengers 4"? It is far inferior to the first two films.

[Fast and Furious] As a traditional Hollywood popcorn movie, it has actually been on a downward spiral since the seventh installment. By the ninth installment, the director had let himself go, and from the story and plot point of view, it is completely a Hollywood "god drama", similar to the domestic "Hand-Tear Devils".

The protagonist's halo is almost invincible. All enemies are like paper in front of them. They will kill anyone who stands in their way.

The subsequent films in this series will only be about racing in space and a family fighting aliens.

"I checked today's statistics online, and the box office of "On the Cliff" is about to break 10 billion. Director Zhang is still as skilled as ever!

The reviews online are pretty good, you should go watch this movie when you have time."

“Although I haven’t seen the movie, I have read the script of [On the Cliff].

Director Zhang invited me when we were preparing for the film. He wanted me to play the role of Zhu Yawen, and to play with Liu Haocun.

Wu Jing asked curiously, "Why didn't you agree? That's Zhang Yimou!"

Gu Wei shrugged: "No schedule.

I have been busy from last year till now, so how could I have the time to shoot "On the Cliff"? "

"That's a shame. I've always wanted to work with director Zhang Yimou, but unfortunately I didn't have the chance."

Although the box office of the "Wolf Warrior" series directed by Wu Jing far exceeds that of Zhang Yimou's films, box office cannot determine everything.

Even though Zhang Yimou has not yet made a movie with a box office of billions, it does not affect his status as China's number one director at all. The title of "National Master" was just a joke back then, but now it has been recognized by the people and the officialdom across the country.

Gu Wei also had some emotion: "I met Director Zhang when I was filming The Great Wall. Sometimes I can't help but admire him.

He is 70 years old this year. It is said that it is rare for a person to live to be years old, but he looks as energetic as a young man in his twenties or thirties.

In recent years, he has directed one or two films almost every year. In addition to "One Second" and "On the Cliff" which have already been released, I know that he is also preparing two films, "Sniper" and "Rock Solid" this year.

The most exaggerated thing is that he can still take on some official tasks and be the chief director of some major events. You can't say that this kind of work efficiency and spirit are not like a 70-year-old man."

Zhang Yimou was the chief director of the large-scale live performance "Celebration of the 2019th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China" held in Tiananmen Square in 70.

After completing this activity, Director Zhang filmed "One Second" and also served as the chief producer of "My Hometown and Me".

In addition to preparing for the two films mentioned by Gu Wei, he has also taken on another official task and become the chief director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

You have to know that being a director actually requires much more time and energy than being an actor. Zhang Yimou's abundant energy and positive work attitude can definitely make most young directors in the circle feel ashamed.

"Now that you mention it, if I meet Director Zhang someday, I will have to ask him for his secret to maintaining good looks. If I learn it, I can still fight for another 20 years."

Hearing what Wu Jing said, Gu Wei also laughed: "No need to ask Director Zhang, if you have a chance, go ask Brother Cheng Long. I remember he was born in 54, which means he is 20 years older than you. He is still as good as ever.

I heard that he is preparing a movie called "Dragon Horse Spirit", which tells the story of stuntmen in Hong Kong movies.

I feel like Brother Cheng Long can still shoot for many more years."

5 month 13 day.

Gu Wei, who had been back on set for two weeks of filming, took another leave. "The Crowd" was about to be released, so he came out to attend the premiere of the movie, and then followed the crew's main creative team on a two-day roadshow.

The "Happy Camp" and "Running Man" that she participated in with Reba before have already been aired, and the concentrated publicity in recent times has also made the fame of "Raging Fire" spread a lot.

"Excuse me, Mr. Gu Wei, what made you take on the role of [The Crowd]?"

Reporters present at the premiere interviewed the creators on stage.

“In fact, it was Director Rao who approached me first. He said he wanted to make such a movie, which was very interesting, and that the role of “Chen Xiaomeng” in the movie was particularly suitable for me.

Later I read the script and found the story to be really interesting, except that my character was too decadent.

I told him that it didn’t match my image.”

Everyone laughed when he said this.

"Then Director Rao said that this would create a sense of contrast, and playing this kind of role would better highlight my acting skills.

I was fooled by him into taking this role."

"What considerations did Director Rao have in selecting the actors for the film?" the reporter asked Rao Xiaozhi again.

“Of course it’s the suitability of the roles, I think the main actors are the most suitable actors to play the roles in the movie.

It turns out that my idea was correct.”

"We all know that this is the second time that you, Mr. Zhang Songwen, have worked with Mr. Gu Wei. Do you feel that it is different from the previous filming of "Zhou Chu Eliminates the Three Evils"?"

Zhang Songwen took the microphone from Rao Xiaozhi and said with a smile: "Of course it's different.

In [Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils], I played the villain, the leader of a cult, who was opposite to Gu Wei's character.

This time we are a team.”

Gu Wei laughed and said, "But you are still a killer this time."

"But as a killer, I have never killed anyone, but saved many people!"

"Haha, that's right, he looks like a killer but he's actually an actor"

As a comedy movie, "The Crowd" is qualified.

After the interview, a movie was shown. From the beginning to the end, bursts of laughter could be heard from the venue from time to time.

Seeing this situation, Rao Xiaozhi felt a lot more relieved.

"My crew hasn't finished filming yet, so I can only go on a roadshow with the team for two days. I'll have to leave the rest to Director Rao." After the premiere, Gu Wei said to Rao Xiaozhi.

"Don't worry, Mr. Gu. I'm familiar with leading the team for roadshows. There won't be any problems."

After hesitating for a moment, he couldn't help but ask.

"The recent movie market has been a bit sluggish since the May Day holiday. Do you think our movie has a chance to get a high box office?"

Gu Wei turned and looked at him: "What are your expectations?"

"If we just look at the quality of the movie, I think the box office will be between 20 million and billion, but with you joining us, it will be at least billion."

Gu Wei laughed after hearing what he said, and reached out to pat Rao Xiaozhi on the shoulder: "Who did you learn this from?"

"That's not flattery, I'm telling the truth!"

"Okay, I'll take that as the truth."

Gu Wei thought for a moment and said, "Actually, if you ask me to make a prediction, I don't have an accurate number in mind.

But I also think there is nothing wrong with the number you mentioned at the beginning, but I can’t say how high it will reach in the end.”

Gu Wei was speaking from the heart.

The original version of "Raging Fire" had a total domestic box office of over 6 million yuan and was released during this year's Spring Festival.

Considering the reputation of the movie when it was released, the box office was actually low.

There is no way, "Hello, Li Huanying" and "Detective Chinatown 3" were very popular during the Spring Festival, and the two movies occupied the vast majority of the screenings.

The rest of the time is occupied by two fantasy films, "Assassination of Novelist" and "The Order of the Samurai", so the screening time for "Raging Fire" is really limited.

Even under such unfavorable conditions, "The Crowd" still managed to earn 6 million yuan at the box office thanks to its good reputation, which shows that this movie is indeed liked by many audiences.

Now the movie's release date has been moved to May. As far as the current movie market is concerned, although it is far less popular than the Spring Festival period, "The Crowd" still accounts for the absolute majority of the screenings.

Several movies scheduled for the May Day holiday have already passed their peak period, and the only new movie released at the same time is a Hong Kong romance movie [Touched Her 77 Times].

Just by looking at the title you can tell it's a bad movie.

Therefore, under such circumstances, "The Crowd" can get more than 50% of the national screening schedule.

With Gu Wei as the lead actor, its box office appeal is far greater than that of Hua Zai.

So it is certain that this version of "Raging Fire" will exceed the original version at the box office, but Gu Wei has no exact number in his mind, 10 billion, 15 billion, 20 billion or more.

(End of this chapter)