Chapter 191: "Painted Skin" surprises domestic entertainment at the North American box off
"The famous director Yip Wai-hsin accepted the invitation from director Chow Ching and decided to direct Ip Man, which was written by director Chow Ching."
"The film "Ip Man" project has been fully launched, produced exclusively by Zhou Qing Studio and directed by the famous director Ye Weixin."
"The film 'Ip Man', written by director Zhou Qing, is confirmed to be directed by 'SPL' director Yip Wai-sin, with two major directors from the mainland and Hong Kong Island fully cooperating."
Related reports quickly leaked out, attracting great attention from the industry and surprising many people.
After all, Zhou Qing has filmed five movies in succession since his debut, with so many roles and so many actors, but he only used a Hong Kong actor once.
Apart from Andy Lau who played a supporting role in "Departures", there are no other Hong Kong actors in Zhou Qing's films.
Although Zhou Qing kept explaining that what he did was in line with the role, who couldn't see Zhou Qing's attitude towards Hong Kong actors?
Who could have thought that this time, Zhou Qing would actually hand over "Ip Man" to people from Hong Kong Island to shoot!
It was indeed beyond many people's expectations.
Besides being surprised, people in the circle were more excited and delighted.
"Ip Man", which has been in the works for so long, is finally going to start filming.
This is the work of director and screenwriter Zhou Qing!
Although it was not directed by Director Zhou Qing, the works written by Director Zhou Qing are also hits.
"Lost on Journey" is the best example.
In addition, this "Ip Man" and "Lost on Journey" are both exclusively produced and written by director Zhou Qing. Who can ignore it?
All of a sudden, countless people in the circle were ready to make a move.
This is not only true in the domestic entertainment industry, but also in the Hong Kong entertainment industry.
It’s even more exciting and thrilling than the domestic entertainment scene.
For a long time, the actors there have had few opportunities to act in Zhou Qing's movies.
Now, not only do they have this opportunity, but they also have more advantages than mainland actors.
After all, the director is from Hong Kong Island.
For a while, the phones at Ye Weixin's and Zhou Qing's studio were almost blown up.
However, Zhou Qing's studio immediately released a statement saying that the casting work would be handled by director Ye Weixin and director Zhou Qing would not interfere.
The focus of firepower shifted to Ye Weixin.
Yip Wai-hsin, who returned to Oriental Films, also accepted an interview immediately and said that he would start the casting work for "Ip Man" in full swing in the near future.
Some of the Kung Fu actors in Hong Kong Island were a little uneasy, and their minds started to become active.
Zhen Zidan, in particular, felt as if he had been injected with chicken blood, and the blood in his body felt even hotter.
This is my chance!
You have to know that the number of Kung Fu stars in the entire circle can be counted on one hand.
It’s nothing more than Li Lianjie, Cheng Long, and myself.
But the pay of Jackie Chan and Li Lianjie is too expensive, and ordinary people really can't afford it.
Especially Li Lianjie, his sky-high salary of 100 million yuan for "The Warlords" stimulated many people.
Zhen Zidan doesn’t think that Ye Weixin will ask these two to shoot, so wouldn’t that leave him, Zhen Zidan?
What's more, Zhen Zidan has already collaborated with Ye Weixin in three movies in succession, "SPL", "Flash Point", and "Flash Point".
They can be said to be old partners.
Now that "Ip Man" is directed by Edward Yip Wai-hsin, who else can he turn to if not me?
No matter how you look at it, Zhen Zidan is Ye Weixin's best choice!
When he thought of this, Zhen Zidan felt more and more unable to hold back.
"Director Ye."
Without saying anything, he called Ye Weixin directly.
"Zidan, don't worry about it. The actor for Ip Man has already been decided. Director Zhou decided it."
Ye Weixin's helpless voice was heard from the receiver.
In fact, if he were asked to choose the actor, he would definitely choose Zhen Zidan.
The reason is the same as Zhen Zidan's analysis.
Among the current kung fu actors, Zhen Zidan is the most suitable one. Besides, he is an old acquaintance, so it is natural to find Zhen Zidan.
But who told Director Zhou to choose Zhao Wenzhuo?
Although Zhao Wenzhuo was not Ye Weixin’s first choice, to be honest, he is actually a very good candidate.
After all, apart from Cheng Long, Li Lianjie and Zhen Zidan, the most famous one is Zhao Wenzhuo.
If it were in the past, Zhao Wenzhuo might have been a little short of the level, but after filming "Painted Skin", he was naturally different.
"Painted Skin" has become the champion in film history.
Let’s look at Zhen Zidan again?
Every movie he makes loses money, it's like a box office poison.
In this case, there is nothing wrong with using Zhao Wenzhuo.
"Has Director Zhou already decided on the candidate?"
The smile on Zhen Zidan's face froze instantly, and he quickly made a guess, "Zhao Wenzhuo?"
There are only a few Kung Fu stars in the circle, and you can guess who they are by using your thighs.
What's more, Director Zhou Qing also likes to use people he knows very much, such as Qin Hao and Zhou Xun, who were both asked by Director Zhou to play the leading roles.
It’s not surprising that Director Zhou looks for Zhao Wenzhuo again this time.
"It's good that you know it, but don't tell anyone yet."
Ye Weixin gave such an answer.
Zhen Zidan's face became even uglier.
"It shouldn't be my turn to be the protagonist... Never mind, I'll just go and give it a try."
Wu Jing's thoughts were also racing.
Speaking of which, his current situation is extremely embarrassing. He has been developing in the Hong Kong circle since 03, and it has been 4 years now.
It’s not long, but it’s definitely not short either.
However, although he was a popular young actor in the mainland, he could only play supporting roles in major movies here.
In any decent production, he would never get the chance to play the leading role.
The Hong Kong circle is still very xenophobic.
Counting the years he has worked hard here, his most representative role is actually a major supporting role in "SPL". Can you believe it?
Wu Jing's original ambitions were almost completely worn out.
I even thought about becoming a director myself.
There's nothing we can do about it, because no other director is willing to hire him as the leading actor.
But since "Ip Man" is an exclusive production of director Zhou Qing, maybe I would have a chance?
Although the chances are not great, they are still better than those purely Hong Kong films.
Even if I can't play the leading role of Ip Man, it would be good to have a supporting role.
You know, Director Zhou’s movies are all big hits!
A light also flashed in Wu Jing's eyes.
On March 3, "Painted Skin" was completely taken off the screen in North America, earning a total box office of 16 million US dollars.
The news spread back to China Entertainment, and once again attracted great attention from the entire industry.
Many filmmakers looked at Zhou Qing with surprise.
The box office of "Painted Skin" in North America is too high!
You should know that the box office of Chinese-language films in the North American market has always been very sluggish.
The record holder to date is still Zhang Guoshi's "Hero" in 02.
$5300 million!
So what about the second place?
If we only count domestic entertainment, the highest grossing film is Huo Yuanjia, which was released in January last year, with 1 million US dollars.
It was Zhou Qing's "127 Hours", which grossed a total of US$2412.
Although the North American box office of "127 Hours" is a miracle, a miracle caused by crazy "fans".
But this box office result is real and cannot be erased.
This means that Zhou Qing’s “Painted Skin” has now directly ranked second in the North American ranking of domestic entertainment films!
Even if we include Hong Kong entertainment, the highest ranked is Jackie Chan's "Rumble in the Bronx", with US$3200 million.
It still hasn't shaken the status of "Painted Skin".
So yes, Painted Skin’s performance in North America is the second highest among all Chinese-language films.
I have to say that this result is really impressive.
Director Zhou Qing is truly powerful.
It is not only selling like hot cakes in mainland China, but also in the entire Asian region, and is equally popular in North America.
I really can’t help but accept it!
"3200 million US dollars, Qingzi, your "Painted Skin" is also a hit in North America, amazing!"
Huang Bo had nothing but admiration for Zhou Qing.
Looking at the achievements of Chinese-language films in Hollywood, besides Li Lianjie, there is also Jackie Chan.
The movies ranked at the top are basically monopolized by these two.
Li Lianjie's "Hero" and "Huo Yuanjia" are far ahead, and the rest, such as "Rumble in the Bronx", "Back to the Future" and the two "Police Stories" films, are all by Cheng Long.
From this we can see that the influence of Li Lianjie and Cheng Long overseas is indeed not underestimated.
In addition, Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu" was also squeezed in.
I can only say that Master Xing is indeed very strong.
And now?
And there’s another Zhou Qing!
Zhou Qing's "Painted Skin" and "127 Hours" also made the list.
Among them, "Painted Skin" is the second highest after "Hero", which is really awesome.
“Painted Skin did quite well at the overseas box office.”
Zhou Qing also had a smile on his face, and he was of course very satisfied with the result.
Whether it was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar or sold overseas for 3200 US dollars, Zhou Qing made his presence felt in North America.
"But the most important thing is that I got nominated for an Oscar."
However, Zhou Qing was still very rational and sober, and did not drift away.
If it weren't for the Oscars, Zhou Qing wouldn't have had high expectations for the performance of Painted Skin in North America.
It's not even certain that it will fail.
"It's your ability to be nominated! If other films want to be nominated, they have to be nominated too."
Huang Bo curled his lips and refuted with disapproval.
When it comes to movies, the final box office is everything. Who would care about the promotion and marketing methods in between?
Whether it's "127 Hours" or something like that, the impressive box office is king.
Who will take care of the rest?
"By the way, are you almost done with the Ip Man project?"
After chatting about the North American box office of Painted Skin for a while, Huang Bo looked at Zhou Qing slyly and smiled.
Obviously, this person is thinking about Zhou Qing's new movie.
After all, Zhou Qing had already said that Huang Bo would have a role in the new movie.
"almost."
Zhou Qing nodded.
Just as he had told Yip Wai-hsin before, he would only send a producer to produce "Ip Man" and would not interfere with the others.
It can save a lot of energy and worry.
This is also the reason why Zhou Qing asked Ye Weixin, the original director, to shoot the film.
At this moment, both parties have almost finalized everything that needs to be finalized, and the remaining matters can be left to Director Chen to coordinate and handle.
Zhou Qing can devote himself to writing the script for "Now You See Me".
That’s right, Zhou Qing’s latest movie is still a pure commercial film.
This movie "Now You See Me" left a very deep impression on Zhou Qing in his previous life. After being reborn this time, he planned to make this movie himself.
There is actually no need to change the script, except to slightly alter the settings of the Four Horsemen and some other important characters.
The story of the entire movie is naturally set in America.
There is no doubt about this, otherwise the script would not have passed review.
It would be fine if the law enforcement officers were played like fools from beginning to end, but the key is that they were the masterminds behind the scenes in the end?
In the end, all the lawless guys are at large?
Such a story can only happen abroad.
So the original story is good and there is no need to change it.
Of course, the fact that the story is set in America doesn’t mean that all the shots were taken in America.
That would be too costly.
In order to save costs, this movie only needs to shoot some key shots in America.
For other shots, you can go to "cheaper" places like Finland and Canada to shoot.
Just like Jackie Chan’s “Rumble in the Bronx”.
It also tells a story that takes place in America, but in the end only two days of exterior shooting took place in New York.
All other shots were shot in Vancouver.
The same thing can be done with Now You See Me.
But even so, the cost cannot be low.
After all, this movie is actually quite large in scale, and it has to be shot abroad. A preliminary estimate is that 1 million yuan will not be enough.
At least 1.5 million.
Maybe it could even soar to 2 million.
Fortunately, with Zhou Qing's current level, no matter how big the investment is, it is not a problem, and there are always a lot of people waiting to invest.
There is no need to think about these.
Zhou Qing put aside all those messy thoughts and concentrated on creating "Now You See Me".
"Director Zhou, I'm back!"
Wang Baoqiang's scenes in "Assembly" have been completed, and it took only about twenty days to shoot in total.
After all, Wang Baoqiang is just a supporting role in "Assembly".
This is the result of Feng Xiaogang specifically adding scenes for Wang Baoqiang.
Speaking of Feng Xiaogang, he is really optimistic about Wang Baoqiang.
The other party initially invited Wang Baoqiang just to play the role of a demolition man, which was a very minor supporting role.
But after finishing the styling of Wang Baoqiang, Feng Xiaogang changed the role of the demolition man into a sniper, and also temporarily added a lot of scenes for Wang Baoqiang.
Otherwise, Wang Baoqiang would have finished filming in a few days.
"Director Zhou, what you said is so accurate. Soldier Assault is really popular on the Internet now!"
After chatting with Zhou Qing about some things on the set of "Assembly", Wang Baoqiang couldn't help but mention this point with great interest.
"Soldier Assault" was mediocre when it was first aired, but now it has become extremely popular on the Internet.
It must be said that Wang Baoqiang never expected such a thing. (End of this chapter)