Chapter 154: Unparalleled

Chapter 154: Unparalleled

Chapter 154: Unparalleled (1)

After attending the premiere of "The Banquet", a few days later, the movie was released and its first-day box office was naturally released.

1200 yuan!

This is the highest first-day box office record in the history of Feng Xiaogang's films, and it is also the highest first-day box office for a movie released so far this year.

It can be said that the release of "The Banquet" was a good start and warmed up the National Day holiday.

This also made the Wang brothers particularly happy. You know, nearly 800 copies of "The Banquet" were released this time, and the number of copies released reached a historical high. This is enough to show that they are very confident in this movie.

Moreover, according to the first-day box office performance of "The Banquet", its box office prospects in the first weekend of its release are expected to exceed 4000 million and approach 5000 million yuan. A box office of over million is a foregone conclusion.

However, with the release of the movie, the online reputation of "The Banquet" has gradually declined as more and more audiences watch it.

"I have to admit that Feng Xiaogang's storytelling skills are better, but in essence, The Banquet, Ambush and The Promise are of the same ilk."

"The music is good, the costumes are good, but the lines are terrible."

"When Ge Da Ye opens his mouth, it's like he's telling a bad joke. Can he also play the emperor???!!!"

Such comments began to spread on the Internet, causing a certain impact.

But nowadays is different from later generations. The reputation of a movie still relies more on major news media. Therefore, although there may be negative reviews online, the box office of "Night Banquet" is still rising at a very fast pace.

Over 5500 million in four days! Over 9000 million in ten days!
By the time "Baby Project" was released, the box office of "Night Banquet" had exceeded 100 million yuan.

However, as "Baby Project" raked in 1000 million on the first day, the box office of "Night Banquet" began to decline sharply, and it seems impossible to break through 1.5 million.

Of course, Huayi Brothers, as an investor in "Night Banquet", was not unhappy at all. After all, both "Night Banquet" and "Baby Project" had their investments.

And soon, with the release of "Wushuang" right after "Baby Project", Huayi Brothers seemed to be "Qin Shi Huang touching the electric switch - winning".

…………

On the evening of September 30th in Beijing, there was still a drizzle in the sky, but this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the fans.

"Director Wang, congratulations! You shot this movie so quickly. I just attended the premiere of your film 'Fatal Call' during the Chinese New Year, and now your new movie is about to be released!"

The person who was speaking was the famous director Feng Xiaogang. Wang Hao had just attended the premiere of his film "Night Banquet" not long ago. Now he naturally returned the favor and came to show his support.

"Hahaha, welcome Director Feng!"

Wang Hao and the heroic Wan Qian went up to greet him with a smile and shook hands with Feng Xiaogang.

"I should be the one congratulating Director Feng. The Banquet is a huge hit at the box office. I heard it will be released overseas soon. This is a great way to promote our country's prestige!"

Hearing this, a hint of pride flashed across Feng Xiaogang's face, but then he smiled bitterly.

“Well, it sounds good to release the film worldwide, but how can it be so easy?

After all, those foreign film and television distribution companies are not the same kind of people as us, and they are trying to cheat us in every way possible.

The global release of The Banquet is just a loss-making effort to gain publicity, and the money that actually goes to us is actually not that much.”

Wang Hao couldn't help but nodded when he heard this. As a senior, Feng Xiaogang was telling the truth.

It is said that it is better to rely on oneself than on others. Why can Hollywood film and television companies dominate the world? In addition to relying on their strong film and television production capabilities, don’t they also have global distribution capabilities?
In this regard, many Chinese film and television companies are indeed lagging far behind, and may even have regressed a lot.

After all, when Hong Kong films were at their peak, not to mention being distributed to Europe and the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and other places were also considered our own film territory.

But later, with the decline of Hong Kong films, the distribution channels in this area were handed over to Hollywood film and television companies. Even if Golden Harvest still exists, it is only barely surviving.

Therefore, if Chinese films today want to go abroad and target overseas, they still have to rely on Hollywood film and television companies.

In this regard, it is said that Feng Xiaogang had suffered losses at the hands of Harvey Wayans, so he said this to Wang Hao.

“What Director Feng said makes sense, but I don’t have the final say on the distribution of my film.

Moreover, the current Chinese film market is only this big, and the film I made is a high-investment science fiction film. If I don’t find a way to expand the channels, it will be difficult to recover the cost just by relying on the mainland market. "

Feng Xiaogang just smiled at Wang Hao's statement and said, "Only young people like you dare to make a science fiction film. If it were me, I would never be able to do it."

When Wang Hao heard what he said, he secretly laughed at the other party for being self-aware.

After all, this guy filmed a movie called "If You Are the One 3" which had a little bit of science fiction in the future.

Let’s not talk about that movie.

Just as they were greeting each other, some of the biggest names in the premiere finally arrived.

Mr. Han of Huaying and the two Wang brothers of Huayi arrived almost at the same time.

Wang Hao was naturally not surprised by the presence of these people. He quickly apologized to Feng Xiaogang, then walked up to them quickly with Wan Qian and led the three people into the auditorium.

Like any other premiere, as everyone arrived, the film's main creative staff came on stage to recount various interesting stories during the filming process, did a series of self-promotional publicity, and then gave an outlook on the film's performance.

After all these procedures were completed, everyone walked down the stage, took their seats in the front row, and the lights went out, the highlight of the premiere officially began.

Before the movie starts, there is still the routine opening animation and dragon logo.

However, unlike the previous movies produced by Galaxy Interactive Entertainment, the opening animation this time was changed to the universe's starry sky, with countless stars twinkling, and then three huge stars that were shining brightly pulling and circling each other, and finally colliding with each other, exploding into the unique six-pointed star logo of "The Three-Body Problem" in the dazzling fire.

As the first film in the "Three-Body" series, they deliberately made adjustments to the opening animation, and now it seems that the effect is quite good.

As the opening animation ends, the movie begins to get into its main theme.

With the melodious soundtrack, subtitles appear and a person is doing strange things.

Breaking fish bones, scraping wall paint, mixing paint...

Using a fish bone as a pen, the character played by Aaron Kwok quickly used his steady hands to draw a realistic-looking stamp on a piece of white paper, affixed it to an envelope, and stuffed it into the backpack of the prison postman during the chaos.

This is just an opening, but it clearly explains the protagonist's abilities and situation, and also successfully aroused the interest of the audience.

"Li Wen, the Hong Kong police are here to take you away. Come out and open the door!"

On the big screen, the plot continues to advance. Amid the words of the prison police, Li Wen, played by Aaron Kwok, is escorted out of a prison in a foreign country and transferred to the Hong Kong Police Headquarters via the airport.

Accompanied by a series of narrations and blurry photos, the general background of the whole story is presented to many viewers.

"Two years ago on February 2, seven guards from the Central Bank were killed on Canada Highway.

In June of the same year, the Golden Triangle Marin guerrillas killed 82 people and injured 157. On September last year, a charred body was found in a dyeing factory in Tuen Mun in an arson murder case.

In January this year, Canadian Mounted Police Officer Yong-chul Lee was killed at the Golden Elephant Hotel in Thailand, and a gunfight broke out at the hotel.

Several murders are related to an international counterfeit money group.

Especially the one that happened in Thailand in January this year, the members included Macau people Wu Xin and Lin Lihua, and Vietnamese Chinese Shen Sihai and Wang Bo.

They were all killed, leaving only two alive. You are one of them, and the other is your boss - the painter.

His identity is unknown and there is no information about him in any country in the world.

This photo was taken by the surveillance camera of the power distribution tower on the Canadian highway, and it is the only one! ”

The police officer placed the photo on the table in front of Li Wen, but all he got in return was silence.

"Tell me, who is 'The Painter'?"

As the question was raised, the title title "Wushuang" in two large characters officially appeared on the screen.

“This is a great beginning, and the suspenseful atmosphere created is very much like a Hong Kong movie.”

While watching the movie, Feng Xiaogang talked to Wang Zhongjun who was sitting next to him, and the other party nodded in agreement.

After the opening scene ended, the police's interrogation of Li Wen was still going on.

Just when the police were using a series of threats and inducements on Li Wen, Yu Feihong, who played Ruan Wen in Wang Hao's previous film "Fatal Call", unexpectedly appeared in the camera.

boom!
A faint discussion suddenly rang out in the dark auditorium.

Connected!
Because of Ruan Wen, the story backgrounds of "Wushuang" and "Fatal Call" are finally connected at this moment!

The audiences who were able to attend the premiere of "Wushuang", except for the reporters from the news media, were mostly veteran fans of Wang Hao's movies. They had naturally watched Wang Hao's "Heart Labyrinth" trilogy before and had a certain affection for it.

Now that they have seen the plots of "Wushuang" and "Fatal Call" connected together, these fans of Wang Hao are naturally very excited, and by the way, they have also transferred their good impression of "Fatal Call" to "Wushuang".

Especially when the friends sitting next to them are not familiar with the "Heart Labyrinth" series, these fans of Wang Hao will enthusiastically tell their friends the previous story.

While these movie fans were excited, on the big screen, Li Wen, under Ruan Wen's persuasion, began to tell the story between him and the "painter".

It turns out that when the young Li Wen and Ruan Wen were working in Vancouver, they met and fell in love, and worked hard together to pursue their dream of painting art.

But under the same conditions, the two people's fates are very different.

Ruan Wen's painting talent was soon discovered by well-known art dealers and he quickly became famous.

Although Li Wen's painting skills were superb, they lacked a certain degree of craftsmanship. He was good at imitation but not good at creation, so he could only make a living by painting imitations.

Later, the two gradually developed disagreements due to differences in their ideas, and their relationship also began to rift.

It was not until the first solo exhibition of Ruan Wen that Li Wen's paintings were belittled as worthless by the visitors that their relationship officially entered the stage of breakdown.

It was also at this art exhibition that the other male protagonist of the movie "Wushuang", "The Painter", finally appeared.

“I was really moved that all the brushwork of the four great painters of the 1950s appeared on this canvas at the same time.

The painting method is so realistic that it is more accurate than a photocopy. Is this painter's name the photocopier?"

"Pfft!"

"Hahaha!"

Liam Neeson appeared in a neat suit, exuding the calm and elegant temperament of a British aristocrat. His comments on the only painting belonging to Li Wen at the exhibition were also sharp and sarcastic, pointing directly to the core problem, which caused laughter at the scene.

“Art allows us to see the beautiful side of a decadent life.

But... this painting makes me see that this world is just a table of leftovers.

Being a human being is already very degenerate, and having to face this filth every day makes me feel sick and want to vomit..."

Wow!

Ruan Wen, who felt sorry for her boyfriend, picked up a glass of champagne and poured it on the face of the "painter" played by Liam Neeson, and drove him away, which made Li Wen embarrassedly chase him and apologize.

It was this pursuit that led to a dramatic legend.

It turns out that the purpose of this British gentleman named William attending the exhibition was not for Ruan Wen's paintings, but for Li Wen.

And when he saw the other party take out the imitation painting he had carefully made from the car, Li Wen admitted that his heart, which had been shrouded in gloom, also began to feel a little bit of excitement.

“By looking at the original print on the copper plate, one can estimate the depth of the engraving.”

"Painted paper is more complicated. Four hundred years ago, patterns were pressed onto dust-free paper using metal screens. By moving the light source, the texture could be seen, just like the watermark on a banknote."

"Putting calcium carbonate and lignin into paper will give it texture."

“The inks used by experts are mostly vegetable oils, which dry quickly and are stable.

I use a mixture of walnut oil, coal ash and turpentine.”

In the dim tavern, Li Wen sat opposite the "painter" William and talked freely, expressing his professional knowledge. His eyes seemed to be filled with some inexplicable brilliance, which made the "painter" opposite him nod with satisfaction.

However, after saying this, Li Wen seemed to return to his somewhat lonely state, and asked the "painter" William in a not very confident tone:
"Do I look like a chemist?"

The "painter" William did not answer his question directly, but looked around and then answered irrelevantly:

"We shouldn't be here. We should choose a nice place to open a bottle of good wine, worthy of... an artist like you."

"An artist like me?" Li Wen lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "Beer is more suitable for me."

"You underestimate yourself," William said with a smile to comfort him, "Anything done to perfection is art. If you are willing... a fake can be made better than the real thing!"

Hearing this, Li Wen looked up at him in confusion and asked, "Are you also a fake painter?"

William replied seriously, "It is a painting that looks so real that even the top experts can't tell it apart."

As he spoke, a playful smile appeared on his face, and he leaned forward, closing the distance between him and Li Wen.

"I'm telling you, there is only one protagonist among a million people in this world, and those who are protagonists are those who can reach the pinnacle, but first you have to find the right stage. If you want to be the protagonist, call me!"

(End of this chapter)