Chapter 544: The Results of the Great Opening

Chapter 544: The Results of the Great Opening

Chapter 544: The Results of the Great Opening
"Director Li, as a Korean, what do you think of the current relationship between China and South Korea, and the future cultural cooperation between the two countries?

Will this affect the subsequent release of the movie "Witch"? "

At a Wanda Cinema in Shanghai, after the screening of the movie "The Witch", director Lee Jung-hoon, who went on stage to interact with the audience, received questions from the audience.

When this question was raised, all the audience and media reporters at the scene looked at him.

This is also the first time that the creative team of "Witch" has faced such a problem after the Desa incident.

Although the cultural exchange between China and South Korea was greatly affected by this incident, the news at this time was mostly about the economy, politics, military, tourism and diplomacy.
It doesn't seem to be a cultural and entertainment issue and it hasn't been put on the table yet.

Of course, this is mainly because it is difficult for entertainment reporters in China to contact practitioners in South Korea. After the Desa incident, many Korean stars and artists either returned to their country or lived in seclusion and rarely appeared in public.

Now with Lee Jung-hoon in the spotlight and The Witch still in theaters, this issue has become extremely popular.

Facing the cameras in front of him and the gazes of the audience in the screening room, Li Zhengxun remembered his agent's instructions and took a deep breath.

“Thank you for your support. It can be seen that everyone is very concerned about this issue.

As the director of "The Witch", I feel very sad about this matter.

From a creative perspective, this film embodies the hard work of many young filmmakers from China and South Korea.

We are a young team, and in the process of cooperation, we have overcome cultural differences.

During the filming, we strive to make every scene and every plot perfect, just to present a wonderful story to the audience. We hope that through movies, we can promote the exchange and integration of the two countries' cultures in the field of film and television.

Moreover, my Korean compatriots and I have always believed that China, as it opens up, is a film market with great potential, vitality, and inclusiveness. We all have deep respect for the Chinese audience.

It is our honor that "The Witch" can be released in China. The good results that "The Witch" can achieve in China are also thanks to the recognition and love of the Chinese audience.

However, the emergence of the Desa issue has made what should have been pure cultural exchanges difficult.

But I want to say that movies are pure artistic creations and should not be overly influenced by political factors.

When we created "The Witch", it had nothing to do with politics. We just wanted to tell a good story about courage, growth and resistance, and hope it can entertain and move the audience.

Of course, I understand the patriotism of Chinese audiences, just as I love my motherland.

I am not defending certain actions of our country. As adults, we all see clearly what is right and wrong.

Here, I would like to express my sincere apologies to all my Chinese friends on my own behalf.”

Li Zhengxun bowed deeply, and the surrounding flash lights suddenly lit up one after another.

“I sincerely hope that the two countries can properly handle the current issues, not be disturbed by certain noises, and allow cultural exchanges to return to the right track.

At the same time, I also urge the Chinese audience to see the sincerity of our filmmakers and not to deny the efforts made in the work "The Witch" because of external factors.

I hope that in the future, Chinese and Korean filmmakers can continue to work together to create more excellent works and bring more excitement to audiences in both countries."

Wow!
There was applause in the screening room, and the agent watching the scene below the audience nodded repeatedly. At least this young Korean director knew how to deal with the current situation.

Of course, it won't work if he doesn't know the current situation.

Lee Jung-hoon graduated from the Department of Drama and Film at Dongguk University in South Korea. The university is known as the "North Film Academy of Korea" and is called the "talent supply station" of Chungmuro. Most of the students it trains are commercial film talents.

However, even though he was studying at such a prestigious university, Lee Jung-hoon still had no chance to get a chance to make a movie in South Korea.

Yes, there is no chance at all. Restricted by the market environment and scale of their country, today's Korean entertainment industry, like their academic and civil service examination circles, can be described as an internal hell.

Not only the celebrity artists need to roll, the singing and dancing idols need to roll, but the directors and behind the scenes also need to roll.

Therefore, Li Zhengxun, who was a senior at the time, decisively chose to go to China for development. Through the long-term cooperative relationship established between Dongguk University and Hua Xia Communication University and other institutions, he went to Hua Xia Film and Television Academy for further studies as a dispatched student.

Then he caught up with the great opening up of Chinese culture and the implementation of Galaxy Group's Asia-Pacific cultural circle strategy. He signed with Star Culture as a young Korean filmmaker. After some experience in the crew of "The Foreigner", he got the opportunity to direct "The Witch" with his outstanding performance.

Today, Li Zhengxun is already deeply tied to the Star Group and the Chinese film market.

How could he, who was expected to become famous with the movie "The Witch", let go of such an opportunity easily? Naturally, he made the most correct choice.

He didn't want to go back to a small place like South Korea and fight with a large group of young people.

So forget about apologizing or taking sides. If necessary, he would even dare to criticize South Korea. At worst, he could settle down in China and bring his parents here.

Anyway, life in China is not bad, and the food and drink are more comfortable than in Korea. You can eat meat and fruit as much as you want.

The media reporters were also very satisfied with Li Zhengxun's speech.

They had originally been invited by Galaxy Pictures and had anticipated this matter, knowing that it would be big news.

Sure enough, Li Zhengxun’s speech today alone was enough to make them write manuscripts for several days.

And this is not the end. Not long after Lee Jung-hoon’s speech at the "Witch" roadshow, many other Korean stars who are developing in China also stood up and began to speak out about the Desa incident, criticizing the matter from China's standpoint.

This voice was transmitted back to their country, and immediately caused a great response. Most Korean people naturally felt that their behavior was inappropriate, but the influence of celebrities is also huge, and many of their fans also thought that what their idols said was right, and began to take sides and support their idols on the Internet.

Moreover, regarding the Desa incident, there is not unanimous support in South Korea. Many sensible South Korean people know that this matter will do more harm than good to South Korea and have expressed their opposition.

With these two factors combined, the momentum has at least been created. Wang Hao and the Galaxy Group also have more time and operations, so that the previous cultural strategy will not encounter too many setbacks.

You have to know how much changes the entertainment industry underwent in Wang Hao's previous life because of this incident. After 2016, the development opportunities for artists from Country H in China have been greatly reduced, many co-production projects have stalled, and it is difficult to see them in the country.

Affected by this, China's local entertainment industry has ushered in good news and has more room for development. The output value of the domestic idol industry has soared from 2016 billion in 200 to 2024 billion in 1200, incubating a large number of idol brokerage companies, and the era of traffic has officially arrived.

As for the Korean entertainment industry, after losing the huge Chinese market, the cultural industry suffered a huge blow and gradually went downhill, gradually being conquered by streaming media platforms such as Netflix.

But now, they have a new option.

Under the influence of Galaxy Group, China is undoubtedly more confident, generous and inclusive in the cultural industry.

After all, the success of "Galaxy Cinematic Universe" has proved the excellence of Chinese culture, so the cultural opening-up strategy should not only continue, but also be implemented on a large scale.

Moreover, after the incident occurred, before the "H restriction order" was issued, Wang Hao used his personal connections to personally meet with the senior leader who supported the cultural openness policy and analyzed in person the impact and pros and cons of the incident on China's overseas cultural industry.

As a result, the "H restriction order" was hanging over their heads, and most of the Korean stars under the Galaxy Group and those who had relationships with the group company began to pay their "letters of allegiance" and took sides on this matter.

To be honest, this is actually a good thing, which is enough to show the achievements made by Galaxy Group in recent years against the background of the great opening up of the cultural industry.

China's opening up of its cultural industry is not just for co-production of films. It is not like 20 years ago when the country lacked the foreign exchange for co-production of films.

The purpose of this strategy is mainly to show goodwill to the outside world through the opening up of the cultural industry, while attracting overseas cultural industry practitioners to turn to China, and then through the influence of these overseas cultural industry practitioners, further influence the perception of China in those overseas countries.

In this process of opening up, there will of course be some two-faced guys who eat Chinese food and then put down their chopsticks and curse.

Now this incident can be regarded as a test and screening.

The reality is that Galaxy Group has achieved considerable results in this cultural opening strategy.

These Korean stars, directors and behind-the-scenes people in China have shifted their career focus in recent years under the subtle influence of Galaxy Group. They also have a good impression of China. When faced with this matter, most of them chose to stand on China's side.

It goes without saying what young and unknown artists like Kim Da-mi and Kim Sae-ron will do. There is no need to say more about what Korean artists like Clara, Choo Ja-hyun, and Lee Seung-hyun who have been developing in China for many years and have gained some fame will do.

The most famous Korean stars who have stood up to speak for China are the members of Crown Group, Lim Yoona and Ma Dongseok.

It is not surprising that the Crown Group and Yoona took sides, but Ma Dongseok’s statement was indeed surprising.

Because given his current career in South Korea, it would actually be unpopular if he rashly got involved in politics.

But think about it, he is a Korean-American, so even if he stands on the side of China, it will not have much impact in South Korea.

Afterwards, Wang Hao took the opportunity that he was going to star in "The Three-Body Problem 1" to meet with him, and through the conversation he roughly understood his thoughts.

Just because he is a Korean-American and has stayed in the United States for a long time, after personally experiencing the film and television cultural industries of China, the United States and South Korea, he chose to bet on China without hesitation.

He knew the character of the United States. It was extremely difficult for Korean artists to develop in the United States, and the situation was not much better than that of artists from other Asian countries.

As for South Korea, its film market is hopeless.

On the contrary, China also has a role in the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe]. He had been to Galaxy Cinema City when filming "Crime City" and personally experienced China's increasingly mature film industrialization system. While he greatly appreciated it, he also realized that the rapidly developing Chinese film and television market still has huge potential in the future.

Moreover, China and South Korea are both Asian countries with similar cultures. Development here has much better prospects than in South Korea or the United States. Therefore, he is determined to take a big gamble this time.

Of course, among these Korean stars who are developing in China, there are naturally some who are unwilling to choose sides due to various considerations, or who are vague and ambiguous in their words.

As for this, China, or the Chinese cultural power of the Galaxy Group, will not ban them, but the willingness to cooperate with them has been greatly reduced. If there is a real opportunity, those who take the initiative to stand on the side will be given priority.

In addition, after these Korean stars spoke out, CJ Entertainment, which had previously had in-depth cooperation with Galaxy Group, also took the initiative to stand up, and the entire company from top to bottom expressed its support for China.

This is much more influential than the previous support from Korean stars for China. You have to know that CJ Entertainment is not just CJ Entertainment, but behind it stands the multinational company CJ (CJ) Group.

The group was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in South Korea. It officially entered the Chinese market in 1994. It is a large multinational enterprise covering food and catering, biotechnology, logistics, and entertainment and media. It is one of the Fortune companies.

Now, the entertainment department of this company has chosen to side with China, which is in sharp contrast to another company, Lotte Group, which has chosen to side with the United States.

The Chinese people have naturally seen all of this. They may not understand the efforts made by Galaxy Group behind the scenes, but their simple values ​​still make them regard these Korean artists and companies that speak for China as friends.

The Chinese have always had a simple value system, which is to clearly distinguish between gratitude and resentment and to repay gratitude.

Therefore, throughout the month of July, a large number of news sections focused on this incident, and the film market was somewhat depressed because of this incident.

Because director Lee Jung-hoon was the first to speak out and take the lead in standing with China, the box office performance of the movie "The Witch" did not fluctuate much in the mainland, and it successfully broke through the 10 billion mark and is moving towards a box office of 15 billion.

As for other Korean actors and companies, as long as they choose to stand up, they will all gain something.

(End of this chapter)