China Entertainment: Been working as a director since 03

Chapter 374: It doesn't matter whether it's the first drama of the year or not, it's the ratings champion anyway
After the premiere, on the way back to the hotel, Li Yucai answered Da Tiantian's questions in the auditorium.

"That movie is very cruel, very realistic, and very heavy. Movies of this type usually have good reputations, but it's hard to say about the box office."

"Is that why you chose Tai Chi when answering questions about box office predictions?"

Da Tiantian asked again.

"What else? Practicing Tai Chi is the best option. If I directly say that I am not optimistic about the box office of the movie, wouldn't that be undermining the national master's reputation and slapping the national master in the face?

If I just keep praising him, what’s the difference between me and those film experts who praise Bi Dao?”

Li Yu explained.

His answer at the time was already the best solution. He affirmed the quality and artistry of Zhang Yingmou's film and avoided talking about box office predictions.

It not only supports Zhang Yingmou, but also makes it impossible for people to find fault with it, leaving no hidden dangers for itself.

Li Yu and Da Tiantian stayed in Beijing for only one day.

The next day, the two hurriedly set off back to the Qin Palace in Hengdian for filming.

Once such a large crew starts working, even if they don't do any work, the number of people eating, drinking, defecating and urinating alone is a very large number.

Li Yu is rich, but he doesn't want to waste his money in such a wasteful way.

After Li Yu and Da Tiantian returned to Hengdian, the filming of "The Great Wall" series continued.

A few days later, on December 12, "The Flowers of War" was released worldwide.

Also released on the same day was "Flying Daggers of Dragon Gate" starring Li Lianjie and directed by Xu Ke.

Zhang Yingmou's "The Flowers of War" has a very heavy theme, which is not conducive to box office success. Now a strong competitor emerges, and the result is predictable.

On the second day of its release, according to box office data disclosed by the media, the first-day box office of "Jinling" was only about 1700 million, while that of "Longmen" was 2200 million.

"Great, Li Yu, you really got your prediction right. The Imperial Master's movie is not very good at the box office. It can't even beat 'Flying Daggers of Dragon Gate'."

In 2011, news spread very quickly. When Da Tiantian learned about the first day report of "Jinling", she was in awe of Li Yu.

She was extremely impressed by Li Yu's predictive ability, it was truly amazing.

"Could it be true that the Imperial Master couldn't even defeat Xu Ke?"

Da Tiantian continued to chatter.

“It’s true that the box office of Guoshi’s film won’t be very good, but don’t underestimate Guoshi.

There is a reason why "Dragon Gate" surpassed "Jinling" in box office on the first day.

Dragon Gate was shown four hours earlier, and it is a 4D movie, so the ticket price is higher.”

Li Yu corrected.

This is the truth behind why "Jinling" was suppressed by "Longmen" at the box office on the first day. "Longmen" took a lot of advantages.

But then again, "Dragon Gate" does have its merits.

For example, Chen Kun’s performance as the factory manager Yu Huatian was great, a role that left a deep impression on the audience and also left behind some classic scenes.

Yu Huatian is obviously a villain, but he overshadows the protagonist Li Lianjie, which shows how well Chen Kun played this role.

Forget about the plot, it's too thin and old-fashioned, and the characters other than Yu Huatian are not three-dimensional enough.

In terms of quality, Li Yu personally feels that "Jinling" and "Longmen" are not at the same level at all, and the former is far better than the latter.

If "Jinling" really loses to "Longmen", it would mean that there is something wrong with the aesthetic taste of this generation of audiences.

Later facts also proved this point. The total box office of "Jinling" was better than that of "Dragon Gate".

However, because the investment in "Jinling" was so huge, even if it earned 6 million yuan at the box office in the mainland, it would not be able to make a profit.

The overseas market, which Zhang Yingmou had high hopes for, did not bring him any surprises.

The total box office in all overseas countries is less than 2 million.

This 2 million is not in US dollars, but in RMB. For a movie with an investment of 6 million, it only earned 8 million at the domestic and overseas box office, which can be said to be a big loss.

What made Zhang Yingmou devastated was not just the box office. In 2012, he submitted "Jinling" to the Oscars.

His goal was the Best Foreign Language Film, but he didn't even get a nomination, which was really embarrassing.

Of course, these are all for later.

At present, "Jinling" has just been released, and no one else can see these except Li Yu, who has seen the answers to the future.

By the way, during the release of "Jinling", something happened that was related to Li Yu.

At the end of December, CCTV’s opening drama of the year, “Heroes at the Border” was broadcast.

Originally, the position of the opening drama of the year belonged to Li Yu's "The Kingdom of the Northern Dynasties".

Since I couldn't keep up with the post-production progress of "The Kingdom of Northern Dynasties", I missed CCTV's big drama of the new year.

In fact, as early as November, people from the central bank urged Li Yu to speed up the progress.

However, Li Yu considered that quality could not be sacrificed in order to meet deadlines, so he declined the central bank's offer.

As someone close to Li Yu, Da Tiantian knows the inside story. She commented: "What a pity, the opportunity to star in the opening drama of the new year has been handed over to someone else."

Fu Dalong also felt it was a pity.

But he is just an actor, and an actor with no fame at all.

He was already very grateful to Li Yu for giving him the opportunity to star in "The Kingdom of the Northern Dynasties", so he didn't dare to give any suggestions or comments.

“It’s nothing to regret, it’s not like I haven’t appeared in CCTV’s opening drama before.

The most important thing is to ensure the quality of the drama. It doesn’t matter whether it is the opening drama of the year or not.

It's like I can't catch up with the big show at the beginning of the year, and I won't be the TV ratings champion next year."

Li Yu pretended to be cool in a nonchalant manner.

Da Tiantian: "..."

Fu Dalong: “…”

Li Yu's pretense was a show-off to them.

Especially Da Tiantian, she felt like a clown.

The previous second she was still feeling sad that Li Yu's "The Kingdom of the Northern Dynasties" could not catch up with CCTV's new year's big drama, and the next second Li Yu nonchalantly pretended to be a big shot for her, which made her previous sadness seem very stupid.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something wrong with what I said?"

Li Yu asked with a smile.

"..."

Nothing wrong with it at all.

"My Love from the Star" has been on the air for so many years, but colleagues in the TV industry have not even been able to break the record set by "My Love from the Star", let alone surpass "Nirvana in Fire".

Starting from "My Love from the Star", any TV series directed by Li Yu himself will definitely be the ratings champion of that year.

From this perspective, it really doesn’t matter whether "The Northern Dynasties" is CCTV’s opening drama of the year.

Based on Li Yu’s past performance, CCTV’s opening drama of the year is not enough for Li Yu to compete with.

"I really wanted to refute it, but I found that I couldn't refute it."

Da Tiantian struggled for a while and decided to give up.

There was no way. Li Yu was showing off his strength and she couldn't help but accept it.

Not to mention Fu Dalong, the expression on his face at this moment was much more interesting than Da Tiantian's.

(End of this chapter)