It's reasonable for me, a stuntman, to live a crazy life, right?

Chapter 853: The Taste of Power Tears of the Age The Incompetent Kevin Tsujihara…

With the arrival of the Lunar New Year holiday, the film market and production industry have also ushered in the busiest and most critical time of the year.

This feast is both a rare opportunity and a severe test for every movie.

Whether you can stand out from the fierce competition and get your own piece of cake will all be decided in the next three months.

In order to gain a place in this feast, major film companies have increased their publicity costs and efforts, carefully planned various promotional activities, and tried their best to attract the audience's attention through posters, trailers, word-of-mouth marketing and other means.

Even channels such as social media, film forums, and professional media have become battlefields for major film companies to promote their products.

La Peikang has been in a very bad mood and under a lot of pressure recently, and has even begun to show signs of insomnia.

First, "Operation Red Sea" only got a pitiful 5% share, and then the movie "The Incredibles", which cost more than million yuan to invest, had a very dismal box office.

In the end, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2: Sword of Destiny" actually collided with "Ip Man 4", and this was what worried him the most.

After several share transactions, the former has now become a film wholly owned by China Film, but the latter is a film produced by Feiyue Films and Emperor Entertainment Group.

Fans of the two movies are now arguing very fiercely, which will inevitably affect the subsequent box office results.

And according to experts' predictions, the loser will most likely be "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2: Sword of Destiny" starring Zhen Zixuan.

After all, Donnie Yen has never won in the "Zhao Zhen dispute".

In fact, when the release date was first set, he also thought about changing the release date of "Ip Man 4", but the key was that he couldn't think of any reason to persuade them.

It's impossible to just say, "I'm worried that your movie will affect the movie I invested in, so I want to change the release date for you, right?"

If he really said that, he would be misusing public resources for personal gain, which is a serious violation of the law.

Therefore, he could only grudgingly agree to the fact that "Ip Man 4" was chosen to be released during the Spring Festival.

But agreeing to it means that he has to find a way to ensure that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2: Sword of Destiny" does not lose money, otherwise it will definitely affect his political achievements.

But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure out how to promote and market the movie.

The movie "Mr. Six" has two "traffic stars", Wu Yifan and Li Yifeng, who are extremely popular. Their every move can attract the attention and heated discussion of the fan group.

But what does "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2: Sword of Destiny" have?
Zhen Zixuan, Yang Ziqiong, Cui Yongkang... these are all people who are already in their 5s or even 6s. The word "traffic" has nothing to do with them!

Suddenly, just as he was frowning, a flash of inspiration came into his mind!
"How about...trying to use this movie to go the 'sentimental' route? See if that works?"

The more he thought about it, the more La Peikang felt that this was a good idea.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has its own sentimentality, the martial arts theme also has its own sentimentality, and people including Yuan Heping, Zhen Zixuan, and Yang Ziqiong also have "sentiments".

If you write some memoirs or something, maybe you can attract a large number of fans.

Thinking of this, he suddenly felt that he was a genius for being able to come up with such a good idea!
So he immediately contacted the manager in charge of publicity and promotion and passed on this method.

As expected, he received a lot of flattery, which made him very happy.

"This is what it feels like to have power! It's really addictive!"

……

Last month, Chen Fei was still talking to Liu Yifei about the bleak future of domestic martial arts films, but he never thought that there would be a proof so soon.

It is no exaggeration to say that the cast of the movie "Master" can be called "top-notch".

Directed by Cannes Caméra d'Or winner Xu Haofeng, the film is led by Berlin Film Emperor Liao Fan and Golden Rooster Award winner Song Jia, with participation from Jiang Wenli, Jin Shijie, Song Yang, Huang Jue and others.

With this lineup, no matter which movie it is in, it can be described as "luxurious".

However, these people suffered a very serious Waterloo in this film which tells the story of Chen Shi, the successor of Southern Wing Chun, who opened a martial arts school in Tianjin during the Republic of China. He taught martial arts to his apprentice Geng Liangchen and let him challenge various martial arts schools, thus triggering a bloodbath in the martial arts world of the Republic of China.

The movie only grossed 444.97 million on its first day of release. No matter how hard they promoted it, the box office was only 1146 million in the first three days of the weekend.

Obviously, this martial arts movie did not cause any waves, and could even be described as "miserable".

“Are martial arts movies really over?”

Liu Yifei watched the news reports and felt inexplicably sad.

After all, when she debuted, martial arts themes were extremely popular. Almost every TV series could make money, and every movie had very good box office results.

But now?

"Martial arts" are almost extinct!
Chen Fei shrugged, and did not show the same drastic emotional fluctuations as Liu Yifei: "When fantasy and immortal heroes become mainstream and special effects begin to flourish, martial arts will inevitably decline.

This is the change of times, and no one can change it. "

Liu Yifei cast a curious look: "You can't do it either?"

Chen Fei laughed at himself and said, "At most, I can only be regarded as reaping the benefits of the times. I cannot change the entire era."

"Ok."

Liu Yifei pouted and didn't say anything else.

In fact, she just missed Wuxia a little bit, but she didn't think of saving Wuxia headlong, because that was no different from a foolish dream.

Fade Chen quickly changed the subject: "Are you going to attend the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens with me tomorrow?"

"What time is it?"

"It officially starts at 10:."

"Okay, then we have to go to bed early tonight, otherwise I'm afraid I won't be able to wake up tomorrow morning."

"Then let's do it now. Early to bed and early to rise."

……

That night, both of them slept soundly and did not stay up late like usual.

After all, I have important things to do tomorrow and I can't delay them.

At ten o'clock the next morning, Chen Fei and Liu Yifei appeared at the premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens".

As a production of Lucasfilm, a subsidiary of Walton Pictures, Natasha has high hopes for this movie!

You know, the "Star Wars" film series plays an extremely important role in Hollywood and even in North America as a whole.

Whether in terms of box office performance, audience reputation or cultural influence, the "Star Wars" series of films can be regarded as classics in the history of Hollywood films.

Its wonderful storyline, outstanding visual effects and profound cultural connotations have all won unanimous praise from North American audiences.

Therefore, whenever a new "Star Wars" movie is released, it always triggers heated discussions and high expectations among North American audiences.

This expectation is not only a love for the movie itself, but also a recognition and pursuit of the cultural phenomenon of "Star Wars".

From a deeper perspective, the "Star Wars" series of films is not just a film work, but also a cultural phenomenon and spiritual symbol.

With its unique cosmology, character settings and storylines, it has profoundly influenced the cultural atmosphere and aesthetic concepts in North America and even the world.

Even various cultural products derived from the movie, such as games, books, etc., have become the objects of enthusiastic pursuit by fans in North America and even around the world.

This cultural influence has made the "Star Wars" film series occupy an important position in the history of North American and even global film.

Based on this, both Walton Films and Lucasfilm are full of expectations for "The Force Awakens".

The moment he stepped onto the red carpet, Fade Chen saw from a distance that director J.J. Abrams and a group of main creative members were being interviewed by the media in front of the autograph wall.

Because of his and Liu Yifei's arrival, there was quite a commotion at the scene, which also attracted the attention of the main creators.

When he arrived at the autograph wall, J.J. Abrams quickly came over and gave him a warm hug and greeting.

"Fei, I'm glad you can come to the premiere of The Force Awakens, because your presence makes the scene bright..."

There is no concept of "idiom" in foreigners' English, so the translation into Chinese is a little strange. Of course, Chen Fei doesn't care about grammar, because he sometimes uses the Chinese version of English, and the main point is to guess each other.

After greeting J.J. Abrams, he hugged and said hello to the other crew members.

When he saw Andy Serkis, he couldn't help laughing: "Andy, I didn't expect you to play a villain here."

“Haha, this is my strong point.”

Andy Serkis smiled happily and was very excited about being able to participate in the "Star Wars" series of movies.

Everyone exchanged greetings for a while in front of the autograph wall, and then walked into the Hollywood Chinese Theater.

However, as soon as he entered the main venue, Fade Chen saw the "Warner Bros. Team" chatting with Megan Ely.

What surprised him was that Warner President Kevin Tsujihara also came to the scene, and DC Films Director Hamada and others came with him.

As soon as he saw Kevin Tsujihara and Hamada, Chen Fei couldn't help but think of the articles they posted on Twitter.

Not long ago, after Spider-Man announced his return to Marvel, Kevin Tsujihara promoted his own IP on Twitter in order to prevent DC from falling too far behind.

"We have a complete Justice League universe plan. In addition to the already famous Batman, it also includes films such as The Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter. These have been launched one after another. Movie fans will soon be able to appreciate these familiar comic heroes on the big screen. They will form the Justice League and defend the entire universe to the death!"

Even recently, DC has begun promoting their new movie "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and has claimed that the North American box office will exceed $6 million.

Chen Fei is not sure whether this movie can be successful, but DC is quite confident and often acts in front of the media as if they can definitely surpass Marvel.

Perhaps they noticed Chen Fei's gaze, Kevin Tsujihara, Hamada, and Megan Erie all looked over here.

Enemies are extremely jealous when they meet!
As competitors, the three of them looked cold.

Instead, Chen Fei smiled at them very warmly and raised his hand to welcome them.

However, he did not come over. Instead, he turned around and walked away after saying hello.

Seeing Fade Chen walking away, Megan Eli deliberately started to stir up trouble and said, "It's all because of this yellow-skinned kid that Marvel is getting better and better."

Hamada was not to be outdone: "DC will definitely catch up, and even surpass!"

Kevin Tsujihara doesn't really want to talk about this topic because since he took office, Warner Bros. has not prospered as he expected, but has instead fallen into difficulties repeatedly.

On the contrary, his predecessor went to Disney after leaving the company and has a very good development momentum.

In this case, he seemed somewhat incompetent.

Therefore, he now very much wants to achieve results and prove himself, and DC's copyright development and film plans happen to be a good opportunity.

But he didn't want to talk about this topic with Megan Erie because he felt that she was not worthy of talking to him about this.

A rich second-generation from Wall Street, who just has some money, what qualifications does he have to talk to him about the future of Warner?

The reason why we are treating her well now is just because she bought the copyright of "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" from Warner, which makes them half partners.

Otherwise, she wouldn't even be qualified to chat with him.

"Ms. Eli, I heard that the movie produced by your company will be released on Christmas?"

"That's right!" Megan Ely was extremely proud: "This will be Annapurna Pictures' first commercial hit and a powerful tool for us to become famous in Hollywood!"

"Then I wish you success."

Kevin Tsujihara said something casually and turned away.

Hamada behind him hurriedly followed. Just like his Japanese descent, Mei Shang's bloodline had already been engraved in his blood.

"This is Christopher Nolan, the pioneer of The Dark Knight and a top Hollywood director."

"This is James Cameron, the creator of Titanic and Avatar, and one of the top directors in Hollywood."

"Steven Spielberg, my dear friend and partner, President of DreamWorks Pictures and producer of the Transformers series."

"This is my girlfriend Crystal..."

During the half-hour social interaction, Chen Fei took Liu Yifei to introduce all the top Hollywood directors and producers present today.

Relying on his identity and status, no one would fail to give him face, and they all said that they would definitely contact him if there were suitable roles or opportunities in the future.

At around 11 o'clock, the movie screening officially began.

Just the opening scene gave the guests and audience a great shock.

In order to make the style of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" closer to the original "Star Wars" trilogy in the 35s and 1977s, director J.J. Abrams not only insisted on using MM film for shooting, but also used a large number of models and on-site special effects. He even re-used the "Star Wars" set in Morocco that was almost intact, hoping to use real shooting to pursue a retro feel of the picture.

Some of the scenes in the film were shot with an IMAX film camera.

As a film in the "Star Wars" series, this is the first work shot with IMAX cameras.

The clips in the film shot with native IMAX film will be displayed in 1.43:1 aspect ratio, so the audience will see the full-screen image in IMAX theaters.

With the help of 3D glasses, what appeared in Chen Fei's eyes was a scene that was no less impressive than that of "Avatar" and "Inception".

After watching the whole movie, it is obvious that whether it is the narrative or the editing method, or even the production of the film's special effects and the insistence on using film shooting, the texture of "The Force Awakens" is infinitely close to "Star Wars: A New Hope" 39 years ago.

The film even abandons the fast pace and cross-editing of commercial films. The transitions between scenes make people feel like they have traveled back to the 1970s. It can be said that in terms of "retro" and "nostalgia", "The Force Awakens" has achieved the ultimate and played the trump card of emotion.

In addition to retaining many of the old jokes from the original film, the film also adds many joyful comedy elements, which is refreshing.

However, the only regret is that the two new leading actors did not make the film truly novel.

There are many flaws, both large and small, in the plot and the logic of the characters' behavior. Both the plot and the characters' emotions feel a bit abrupt and deliberate.

However, some minor flaws in details cannot affect the overall excellence of the film.

After the screening, there was thunderous applause from the audience!
Chen Fei and Natasha, who was sitting next to him, looked at each other and both showed satisfied expressions.

If things go as expected, the performance of this movie will definitely not be too bad.

However, the next second, Fade Chen's sight overlapped with Megan Eli's.

It can be clearly seen that Megan Erie looked a little bad, because the excellence of "The Force Awakens" put a lot of pressure on her.

However, after looking at Chen Fei, she still forced a smile, which seemed to be a bit weak.

Seeing this, Fade Chen raised his eyebrows slightly, his expression full of provocation.

This scene immediately made Megan Erie's expression freeze, and her look turned cold.

She knew in her heart that from now on, the tit-for-tat competition had officially begun!

……

On the 18th, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" officially entered the North American market with 4134 theaters opening.

On the 19th, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" took the lead with a box office of 1.205 million US dollars, accounting for 86.4% of the box office, and won the No. 1 spot in this week's box office performance ranking!

At the same time, the opening box office performance of this movie is second only to "Avengers 2" this year, ranking No. 2 of the year!

On the 20th, "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" produced by Annapurna Pictures officially held its premiere event at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.

At the same time, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" once again earned 6870 million US dollars in the North American theater market.

In the international market, more than 3 screens provided it with a box office of up to 2.79 million US dollars, and it topped the box office performance rankings of the day in almost all the markets where it was released!

That morning, Chen Fei led a large group of "friends" to the Dolby Theater, ready to attend the premiere of "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" to see what the movie was about.

……

(ps: First update, please vote for me!!!)
(End of this chapter)