The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 557 Chaos

"Lost in Thailand grossed over 200 million in three days, a record for Chinese-language films."

"Lost in Thailand" has many funny moments. Baoqiang loves to act cute, while Lu Yuan is the most contrasting. Fans laughed so hard that their false eyelashes fell off."

"Lu Yuan made a precise move and 'Lost in Thailand' is expected to become the most profitable comedy film in history."

"Well-known host Zhou Libo blasted director Xu Zheng, and the two started a war of words on Weibo."

"."

July 7th was the fourth day of the release of Lost in Thailand.

On the day of its premiere, the box office of "Lost in Thailand" (including the midnight show) was 7182 million.

The next day, the box office was 7396 million, and on July 7, the box office was 6 million.

The total box office in three days was 2.25 million, which was a strong momentum and once again broke a new record for Chinese-language films, causing a lot of media to go into a frenzy.

Six pm.

Lu Yuan finished the interview and returned to the community.

He was surprised by the performance of "Lost in Thailand". Before he got the script and decided to invest, he estimated that it would have good box office data, but the current results are indeed beyond his and Xu Zheng's expectations.

While thinking about something in his mind, Lu Yuan took out his key quietly and heard the sound of a door opening behind him.

He turned his head and saw that the door was opened a crack and a little kid was staring at him with his round eyes.

"What are you looking at? Take off your pants, believe it or not!"

Zhou Qi lowered his head and looked at his pants. After thinking for a while, he bravely pushed the door open, hugged his uncle's thighs, and pushed him into the house with a grunt.

"What are you doing?" Lu Yuan stood still.

Zhou Qi stuck out his butt, and his whole body seemed to be exerting all his strength: "Uncle, Dad and Mom are arguing."

"So, you come to find help?"

"Ah."

"Stay away, don't go."

Lu Yuan thought of the old woman rolling up her sleeves with a ferocious look on her face, and his heart shuddered. What was she going to do? Was she going to get scolded?

"Uncle, please go." Zhou Qi pushed for a long time without any effect, so he squatted on the ground and started to act like a rogue.

"Hey, who did you learn this trick from? Okay, okay, tell me why you're quarreling?" Lu Yuan had a headache, picked him up, and brushed the dust off his butt.

"Because of my sister."

"Well, Yaoyao, that's no problem." Lu Yuan said that he was just there to watch the show and it was okay to hand over a belt.

The two of them entered the house, and my sister and brother-in-law sat on the sofa.

Lu Jia had a sullen face, and Zhou Mingyuan smiled at the side.

Zhou Yaoyao sat alone on a chair in the restaurant, lying down in a daze, and the atmosphere was a little solemn.

He coughed: "What's going on?"

Zhou Mingyuan nodded in the direction of his daughter.

Lu Yuan understood what he meant, walked to the dining table, and pulled Yaoyao's braid: "Come on, tell me."

The little fellow mumbled like a thief, as if his throat was being grabbed, "I didn't do well on the final exam."

"If you didn't do well in the exam, just try harder next time. It doesn't matter." Lu Yuan pulled out a chair and sat down: "How much did you do in the exam?"

Zhou Yaoyao blinked her eyes and moved her lips, but before she could say anything, Lu Jia suddenly stood up from the sofa.

"You didn't do well in the test!"

She raised her eyebrows, slammed the armrest, and shouted angrily: "There are 37 people in the class, and you ranked 36th."

"Uh" Lu Yuan stared at his niece in surprise.

Zhou Yaoyao lowered her eyes, reached out and tugged at his trouser leg, and whispered, "Uncle, save me."

Lu Yuan was disgusted, but seeing her pitiful appearance, he felt sorry for her and came to her rescue: "Well, although the ranking is a bit low, from another perspective, there is a lot of room for improvement. Besides, at least it's not the last one."

"Ha!" Lu Jia glared at him sarcastically.

Lu Yuan was puzzled. This woman must be sick.

"Ahem." Zhou Mingyuan showed off his presence and said leisurely, "A student in their class took sick leave and did not take the exam."

"How dare you, as a father, explain yourself!" Lu Jia yelled, "After all, your child is from Shanghai Jiaotong University, how could you give birth to such a thing?"

"What's wrong with Jiaotong University? It still came out of your belly." Zhou Mingyuan retorted.

"What do you mean?" Lu Jia laughed angrily: "Zhou Mingyuan, are you doubting me? I gave birth to a dog."

"That's not what I meant." Zhou Mingyuan was speechless. His wife was unreasonable, unreasonable, and misinterpreted his meaning.

"Uncle. Uncle." Zhou Yaoyao came over with her head hung like a quail, grabbed Lu Yuan's fingers and shook them.

Lu Yuan didn't want to pay attention to her and pushed her away by pressing her forehead, what a stupid child.

Zhou Mingyuan realized that he couldn't appease his wife for a while, so he changed the subject: "What happened to Xu Zheng and Zhou Libo?"

Lu Yuan cooperated with his performance and explained: "Yesterday Xu Zheng accepted an exclusive interview with a TV station and was asked by the host about his different views on Zhou Libo and Guo Degang.

He commented that Xu Zheng is not as down-to-earth as when he first debuted, and rarely combined facts, which caused Zhou Libo's dissatisfaction. He ridiculed Xu Zheng for being very smart when he played a pig, but being a fool when he was a human..."

Strictly speaking, Zhou Libo has been involved in many wars of words on Weibo in recent years, criticizing Zhao Benshan and cursing Guo Degang.

"Why is Xu Zheng saying all this?" Zhou Mingyuan didn't quite understand and shook his head. "But I don't like Zhou Libo that much. His previous shows were okay and down-to-earth, but after he became famous, he became a little arrogant. He always likes to flaunt himself as a cultured person and an elite. He looks down on farmers in his words and deeds. What a joke."

After listening for a while, Lu Jia also became interested: "Xiaoyuan, does Lost in Thailand have a chance to break 1 billion? I saw a lot of people analyzing it online, and they all said that this drama has a chance to break 1 billion."

One billion box office, this figure is of great significance to the domestic film market.

Last year, Zhang Weiping ambitiously said that "The Flowers of War" would aim to make 10 billion yuan. At that time, many people secretly thought it was a pipe dream, and it was indeed the case. Later, "A Chinese Odyssey" became a big hit, and although there was a chance, it was still a shortcoming.

Now that Lost in Thailand has grossed over 200 million yuan in three days, this momentum seems to be showing some signs of success.

As a result, the media was in a state of panic, with all kinds of outrageous headlines appearing one after another.

"Who knows? It's only been four days since the release, and there are other movies coming up. It's still a long way to go."

As he was speaking, his cell phone rang. He took it out and took a look. It was a message from Wu Lang, but the content of the message made him frown.

"I'm going out for a while." He said hello and walked out with a heavy heart.

"Where are you going?" Lu Jia asked.

"The company has something urgent to do."

While Lu Yuan was on his way back to the company, a piece of news related to "Lost in Thailand" caused controversy on Weibo.

Wuhan Huaqi Film and Television first held a press conference, and then posted on social media platforms such as Weibo.

"Recent false reports by some media, as well as Xu Zheng's plans to shoot the third and fourth episodes of Lost on Journey, have severely impacted Huaqi's bottom line of tolerance. We will file a lawsuit in court."

At this time, Lost in Thailand was extremely popular, and after the article was posted on Weibo, its ranking soared rapidly. Most netizens were confused, what was going on, who was Huaqi, and why did they file a lawsuit?

The resourceful netizens quickly figured out the whole story.

It turns out that it is related to the 2010 summer comedy movie "Lost on Journey".

In his early years, Xu Zheng co-starred with Wang Baoqiang in "Lost on Journey". Huaqi was the producer of this movie and owned the copyright of the script.

Later, Xu Zheng wrote the script of "Lost in Thailand" on his own and found Lu Yuan for investment.

Huaqi Film and Television believes that the production team of "Lost in Thailand" has implied in a misleading way that it is closely related to "Lost on Journey", engaging in false propaganda and misleading the audience into thinking it is a sequel.

At the same time, "Lost in Thailand" used the name "Lost on Journey" extensively in its promotional activities, causing confusion among the audience. The two films are also essentially the same or similar in many aspects.

Huaqi Films believed that the plagiarism in "Lost in Thailand" constituted copyright infringement and therefore filed a lawsuit.

On Weibo, people expressed their opinions.

Lugu Sweeping Monk: "What were you doing when the film was launched? I despise money grabbers the most."

Momo8126: "No, where does Huaqi get the reputation? Lost in Thailand needs the popularity of Lost on Journey? Don't you know how valuable Lu Yuan is?"

Sand Sculpture Bag: "I only have one question, why did you wait until Lost in Thailand became popular before suing?"

The female Land Rover driver slaps you: "Infringement and jealousy are two different things. Just because Lost in Thailand is so popular, you can't lose the right to pursue its infringement, right?! Even if the motive is money, if there is really infringement, you can still pursue it."

Lu Yuan was dressed in black: "That's right, Lu Yuan, come out and apologize."

The Fairy of Stupid Bird: "No matter what becomes popular, all the right and wrong will come! When faced with interests, people's ugly side is exposed!"

Netizens almost unanimously support "Lost in Thailand" because Huaqi's motives are so easy to understand.

At this point in time, seeing that "Lost in Thailand" was a huge hit and others were making a lot of money, I wanted to make a profit and get a piece of the pie.

In response to netizens' questions, Huaqi also gave a proper explanation.

Why didn’t they file the lawsuit during the promotion period before the release of Lost in Thailand?

Huaqi explained: "It takes two months from promotion to release, which is a very tight time to prepare litigation materials for an intellectual property case."

However, there are doubts that "Lost on Journey" wants to get a piece of the pie because "Lost in Thailand" is so popular.

Huaqi responded: "The lawsuit was filed carefully and was not hype. From the perspective of fairness and justice, whether Lost in Thailand is popular or not, it will be the defendant for infringement. Huaqi just wants to restore the truth, give it room to survive, and demand compensation."

Faraway Media.

Several senior executives of the company gathered in the conference room.

"Snapped!"

“It’s so shameless!”

Lu Jing slammed the table angrily: "When did we ever use Lost on Journey to hype ourselves up? If you want to blackmail us, just say so."

"Just because we haven't used it doesn't mean others haven't used it."

Zhang Bowen said slowly: "During the promotion period, someone helped us buy press releases related to Lost on Journey, saying that Lost in Thailand was an upgraded version. I was not thoughtful at the time, and this time it is my responsibility."

After saying that, he looked towards the first person.

In fact, there were some things he kept in his heart and didn't say. He suspected that the press release that linked "Lost in Thailand" and "Lost on Journey" was issued by Xu Zheng.

Originally, according to Xu Zheng's idea, "Lost in Thailand" was originally named "Lost in Thailand Again". The purpose was self-evident, but it was later rejected by Lu Yuan.

As Xu Zheng's first work, which is related to his career, this guy is even willing to hype up his visits to nightclubs, his mistresses, and his uncharacteristic exchange of insults with Zhou Libo.

In order to gain exposure, he used almost every possible means, and it was no surprise that he tied up "Lost on Journey".

Lu Yuan crossed his fingers, resting the back of his fingers against his chin, and said with deep eyes: "Now is not the time to pursue responsibility. Our top priority is to consider two points. One is how to solve this problem, and the other is who is behind this matter."

When these words were spoken, the other people were all stunned.

The first point is easy to understand, the second point.
Chen Zhixi frowned slightly and said, "Boss, are you doubting that this wasn't Huaqi's idea?"

"Yeah." Lu Yuan nodded.

There was silence in the meeting room for a moment.

"Da da da."

The sound of the index finger tapping on the table.

Wu Lang was the first to react: "Yes, this is not in the interests of Huaqi. If they really want to extort money, then they should at least wait until the movie is out instead of jumping out now."

“That’s right. If I were Huaqi, I would not do anything to harm Lost in Thailand. Instead, I would burn incense and pray to God, hoping that God would bless Lost in Thailand to sell more box office revenue, preferably over 1 billion yuan, because the more it sells, the higher the compensation I can demand when I file a lawsuit,” Zhang Bowen analyzed.

"Who is the one?"

“Who least wants to see Lost in Thailand do well at the box office?”

"Could it be someone you, Mr. Lu, have offended before? For example, Meiya Entertainment, which lost all its money due to the incidents of "Super Time" and "Hongmen Feast" at the beginning of the year."

"It's not ruled out." Chen Zhixi added: "But it's also possible that the summer vacation competitors are behind the scenes."

"Well, that makes sense."

Lu Jing looked around and expressed his guess: "So, could this matter be related to Huayi?"

This is an answer that is easy to guess, Huayi is the most suspicious.

After all, since the release of "Lost in Thailand", the daily box office share of "Painted Skin 2" has been visibly declining. As one thing grows while the other shrinks, and the audience is limited, it is reasonable for Huayi to take action.

At the same time, public opinion online changed.

First, Xu Zheng explained the origin of the script of "Lost in Thailand".

He claimed that Huaqi broke the contract first and plundered his creativity. They promised to let him be the director, but reneged on their promise many times. He had no choice but to bring the script out and raise investment on his own.

Xu Zheng explained a lot and won the sympathy of many netizens.

But soon, a wave of public opinion came, and this time it was not just a problem with Huaqi, but also accusing the film of having controversial content itself.

Several professors and experts spoke.

Professor Qian: "Lost in Thailand is a typical 'three vulgar' movie, vulgar, mediocre and kitsch! The Chinese cultural industry represented by movies cannot just focus on box office and cater to the audience blindly, but should focus on cultural orientation and improve the cultural quality and taste of the people."

Expert Su: "The little man played by Wang Baoqiang is constantly humiliated and ridiculed throughout the movie. The movie promotes all kinds of bad ideas. The rich people represented by Xu Lang can give alms to the lower class people, and can buy money to sleep with Fan Bingbing, etc."

The conflict between Zhou Libo and Xu Zheng hasn't ended yet, and now they are adding insult to injury.

"I found that many media outlets used the movie Lost in Thailand as another successful example of China's cultural industry with small investment and large output. I think any elite intellectuals with a sense of cultural responsibility and mission would not agree with such a view. The most important mission of the cultural industry is to improve the cultural quality and appreciation level of the Chinese people."

For a time, voices criticizing "Lost in Thailand" were all over the Internet.

However, most netizens stand on the side of "Lost in Thailand".

“@周立啵, you say I’m uneducated? Well, I’m uneducated and have low taste. Please pack up your highbrow ideas, leave this dirty Earth, and go back to Mars to play with your spoon handles.”

"In fact, we ordinary people watch movies just to have fun. After laughing happily, we are still accused of being tasteless and uncultured. Where can we seek justice?"

"@周立啵@苏@钱. If you don't like what the people like, who do you think you are?"

(End of this chapter)