Back to 80: My Literary Life

In Xijing, the premiere of "Face Off" has ended, and Fang Minghua and his wife drove home.

Song Tangtang seemed a little excited sitting in the passenger seat.

"Today's premiere was really great. I didn't expect it to be so successful. Whether it was the guests, the media reporters, or the audience, they all praised this as a good film. Whether it was the narrative skills or the use of the camera, it was very good. Wu Tianmin is still as good as ever."

Song Tangtang was right.

From the artistic point of view of the film, the film is solemn and thick, with strong national characteristics, and contains a feeling of compassion and profound ideological connotation.

Very Wu Tianming.

Unfortunately, the times have changed.

Now is not the 1980s, it is the mid-1990s, and the audience's taste has long changed. This topic of local memory and traditional cultural inheritance is no longer popular.

Seeing Fang Minghua was silent while driving, Song Tangtang couldn't help asking, "Minghua, am I wrong?"

Fang Minghua didn't answer directly. He looked at the street in front and asked, "Tangtang, did you notice which movie had the most screenings in the Northwest Cinema today?"

"Of course I noticed it. It was "The Fugitive", a movie imported from the United States."

The first American blockbuster imported into China has finally been released!

"The Fugitive" is an American action crime movie created and directed by Andrew Davis, starring Harrison Ford and others. It is adapted from the 1963 TV series "The Fugitive". It tells the story of how Dr. Kimbell is pointed to as the killer who killed his wife by all the evidence, and then proves that he is not the murderer.

The film is full of climaxes and is exciting.

Fang Minghua continued, "According to the "Film" magazine, this movie was screened in six cities including Shanghai, Tianjin, Yanjing, Zhengzhou, Chongqing, and Guangzhou last month. The number of viewers reached 1.39 million and the box office revenue was 11.27 million yuan."

Song Tangtang was silent for a moment.

As a filmmaker, she knows how terrifying this data is.

The revenue in just one week is as high as more than 10 million. No movie in the mainland can compare with it!

Even though Zhang Yimou's "Shake It, Shake to Grandma's Bridge" is in intensive production, Song Tangtang knows that it can't compare with others in terms of box office.

"So, according to what you mean, the release of "Face Off" will avoid the release cycle of this movie." Song Tangtang said.

"It can play a certain role, but it's not very useful." Fang Minghua said, turning her head to look at Song Tangtang: "Think about it, after watching a movie like "The Fugitive" with hot scenes and exciting plots, who would watch a movie like "Face Off" again?"

"I don't believe it! Although "The Fugitive" is good, it is a popcorn movie in the words of Americans. In terms of the artistic value of the movie, it is not as good as "Face Off"!" Song Tangtang's tone was a little stubborn.

"You are right, but how many audiences go to the theater to watch movies for the sake of artistry? Isn't it just for fun? Hong Kong's "Ashes of Time" and "A Chinese Odyssey" are living examples." Song Tangtang fell silent again after hearing this. The scripts of these two movies were written by Fang Minghua. When Fang Minghua was writing the script of "A Chinese Odyssey", Song Tangtang laughed at why he wanted to make such a rubbish movie? As a result, he was slapped in the face by reality. Although "Ashes of Time" won the main competition unit of the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for the Best Actor, it also won the Best Cinematography Award at the Venice Film Festival! The mainland did not publicly introduce this film, but Song Tangtang had to admire Wong Kar-wai as a genius director after watching the imported DVD. However, after the movie was released in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the box office was said to be only 9 million Hong Kong dollars! And that "rubbish movie" "A Chinese Odyssey" had a box office of 20 million after it was released in Hong Kong and Taiwan during the Spring Festival last year! It is said that it was because of the haste to shoot "A Chinese Odyssey" that Wong Kar-wai's company did not go bankrupt with 20 million Hong Kong dollars.

Through the street lights from the window, Fang Minghua saw that Song Tangtang's face was not very good, but he did not say anything.

The era of movies that were equally popular as well as well-received has passed.

As the head of Shengshi Film and Television, she has to adapt to the changes of the times.

A week later, "The Fugitive" was finally taken off the screen, and "Face/Off" began to be released nationwide.

A week after its release, the box office was 86,000.

Tonight, the atmosphere in Fang Minghua's home was a little different from usual. Both children ran to their rooms to do their homework, and did not come out after finishing. Even the little nanny who usually hummed while doing housework was walking on tiptoe tonight.

She had never seen the hostess in such a bad mood. She sat on the sofa with a frosty face, which was a few degrees colder than the ice on the eaves outside.

Fang Minghua sat next to her and comforted his wife.

"It doesn't matter, it's a loss. Besides, you've already prepared for it."

"But I didn't expect it to lose so much? The box office in the first week was less than 100,000, and the total box office is estimated to be no more than 300,000, but the investment in this movie is 3 million! It can't even recover one tenth of the cost."

"100,000 is good. I initially estimated that it would only be 10,000 or 20,000." Fang Minghua smiled.

"What did you say?!" Song Tangtang opened her beautiful eyes and stared at her husband fiercely.

"I mean the result is still unexpected. Okay, don't be angry, anger makes you old." Fang Minghua gently stroked Song Tangtang's shoulders and comforted her.

In fact, he was right. In history, the box office of this movie in the mainland was less than 20,000!

"It doesn't matter if I'm old. Anyway, I'm going to be an old woman soon." Song Tangtang muttered.

"Oh my God, there is such a beautiful young old woman?" Fang Minghua was surprised: "Are you the Tianshan Tonglao?"

"You are the Tianshan Tonglao!" Song Tangtang said angrily.

After her husband said this, she felt better.

"What was Wu Tianmin's reaction to the news?" Fang Minghua asked again.

"He felt guilty and said that he had just come to the company and poked such a big hole in the company." Song Tangtang said.

"I guess there are people in the company who are discussing him behind his back, so at this time, Tangtang, you have to cheer him up, otherwise many people will not accept his position as vice president." Fang Minghua reminded.

"I know, but this movie has lost too much money."

"Hasn't it been contacted to be released overseas? It can save some box office and reduce losses. Besides, this movie may not have good box office, but it is artistic. It will be sent to the Golden Rooster Awards and the Tokyo International Film Festival abroad next year, and it is estimated that it can win awards."

Song Tangtang sighed and asked suddenly.

"Minghua, is the box office of a movie with good artistic quality really bad?"

"Not necessarily, but it is really difficult to make a movie that is both well-received and popular. This is not the 1980s. At that time, there were very few movies that the audience could see, and everyone would enjoy watching any movie that was shown."

"But it's different now. There are domestic, Hong Kong and Taiwan movies, and now there are many foreign movies. There are also so many video halls and pirated VCDs, which will also pull audiences out of the cinema. So I dare say that the next few years will be the most difficult years for the domestic film market, and domestic films are in a desperate situation. You have to be mentally prepared."

Fang Minghua said.

"Yeah." Song Tangtang nodded gently.