Huayu is free to do as you like

In today's domestic film market, the Spring Festival period is undoubtedly the one with the most box office and the most intense competition, and it is the top period of the year.

Then there are the Lunar New Year period, the summer period and the National Day period.

The Lunar New Year period was once the boss, and although it has been replaced by the Spring Festival period, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse.

The summer period benefited from the students' holidays, and it once produced top blockbusters such as "Wolf Warrior 2" and "Detective Chinatown 2" that sold billions of yuan.

The National Day period was due to the popularity of main theme movies in recent years, and the hot sales of movies such as "My Motherland and Me" and "My Hometown and Me" brought the National Day period to the fore.

Because the May Day period has a shorter holiday time, it is far less than the previous four periods in terms of box office and popularity, but it is also better than holidays such as Valentine's Day, Qingming Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival.

This year's May Day period is quite competitive, with seven domestic new films choosing to be released during this period.

With the huge box office advantage accumulated in the early stage of its release, the movie "Your Wedding" won the championship of the May Day period with a box office of 660 million yuan.

Following closely behind is the spy war blockbuster "On the Cliff" directed by Zhang Yimou, which ranked second with a box office of 570 million.

Judging from the box office alone, "Your Wedding" is undoubtedly the biggest winner. The film achieved a super high box office of 140 million on the first day of its release. In just three days, the cumulative box office exceeded 424 million. For a low-cost domestic love film, it is obviously an unimaginable hit.

However, although "Your Wedding" has a good box office performance, its reputation is very average.

Douban's score is only 5.2 points, and the comments are even more criticized.

But such a movie won the championship of the May Day period. It can only be said that the film company's marketing is really in place.

New actor Zhang Ruonan also rose in popularity due to the movie, and was regarded as the new "national first love" by many fans, which is quite similar to the feeling of Chen Yanxi when "Those Years" was popular.

"On the Cliff" brought together many powerful actors such as Zhang Yi, Yu Hewei, Qin Hailu, and coupled with the fame of director Zhang Yimou, the movie has received countless attention before it was released.

After the movie was released, it did not disappoint. The excellent acting skills of the actors and the ups and downs of the story of the whole movie won unanimous praise from the audience.

With the continuous fermentation of word of mouth, [On the Cliff] has surpassed the single-day box office for many consecutive days. Judging from the current situation, it is only a matter of time before the box office surpasses [Your Wedding].

Except for the competition for the top spot of the above two movies, the other works are basically evenly matched.

[Sweeping Black. Decisive Battle] has a cumulative box office of 124 million, [Chasing Tigers and Catching Dragons] has a cumulative box office of 165 million, and [Secret Visitor] has a box office of 192 million. These three movies form the "second echelon" of the May Day period.

The two movies at the end of the queue are [Sunshine Robbers] starring Ma Li and Song Jia and [Searching for a Man] starring Ren Suxi and Li Baotian.

[Sunshine Robbers] got a box office of 40 million during the May Day period, and [Searching for a Man] only had a pitiful 2.32 million.

But as the last two movies, the two movies are very different.

The score of [The Robbers with Vision] is only 4.2, which is worse than [Your Wedding]. It is a completely bad movie.

Although [The Man Seeking] has the lowest box office, its score is second only to [On the Cliff], and it ranks second among several movies with a score of 6.9.

[The Robbers with Sunshine] failed because the movie is really bad. Without Shen Teng, Ma Li alone can't carry the box office.

[The Robbers with Sunshine] failed because the publicity and promotion did not keep up. The original investment cost of the movie was very low, and the money invested in publicity and promotion was even less. In addition, there were no famous traffic stars, and the wine was afraid of being hidden in the alley. Naturally, the box office was not ideal in the end.

"Why didn't you arrange your [The Crowd] on the May Day schedule?"

During the lunch break of [Changjin Lake] crew, Wu Jing and Gu Wei talked about the recently released movies.

After taking a leave for a while, Gu Wei returned to the crew to continue filming after finishing all his things.

The filming of [Changjin Lake] - or more accurately, [Watergate Bridge] has reached the final stage, and it will be finished in about a month.

"At first, we planned to release it during the May Day holiday, but later we communicated with the theater chain, and they hoped to release [Raging Fire] in mid-May, hoping to fill the market gap after the May Day holiday with this movie.

The theater chain has guaranteed the number of screenings, so I don't think it's that important whether it is released during the May Day holiday." Gu Wei picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs while eating.

Wu Jing nodded, and suddenly thought of something.

"I remember [Fast and Furious 9] was also released this month, right?"

"Yes, the week after [Raging Fire]."

"Aren't you afraid of competing with [Fast and Furious 9] and affecting the box office of the movie?"

Wu Jing's worry is not unreasonable. You know, the [Fast and Furious] series has a lot of fans in China.

[Fast and Furious 7] and [Fast and Furious 8] each earned more than 2 billion yuan in the Chinese market that year, so this year's [Fast and Furious 9] is also very much anticipated by the audience.

Gu Wei smiled and said, "What are you afraid of? "The Crowd" was released a week earlier and has the first-mover advantage. Besides, it's better if the market is heated up. One tree cannot make a forest. Competition is good for the box office."

"That's right. With your box office appeal, you don't have to worry about "Fast and Furious 9", unless this movie can be as explosive as "Avengers 4."

Gu Wei smiled at Wu Jing, but shook his head secretly in his heart.

How can [Fast 9] be compared to [Avengers 4]? It is far inferior to the previous two films.

[Fast and Furious] As a traditional Hollywood popcorn movie, it has actually been going downhill since the seventh film. By the time of the ninth film, the director has let himself go. From the story and plot point of view, it is completely a Hollywood "magic drama", similar to Domestic "hand-tearing devils".

The protagonist's aura is almost invincible, and all enemies are like paper in front of them. People who block them will kill, and Buddhas who block them will kill Buddhas.

The only further filming in this series will involve racing in space and the family fighting aliens.

"I checked today's data online. The box office of "Above the Cliff" is about to exceed 1 billion. Director Zhang's sword is still young!

The reviews online are pretty good, so you should watch this movie if you have time.”

“Although I haven’t seen the movie, I have read the script of [On the Cliff].

Director Zhang invited me when we were preparing. He wanted me to play the role of Zhu Yawen, playing the second role with Liu Haocun."

Wu Jing asked curiously: "Why didn't you agree? That's Zhang Yimou!"

Gu Wei shrugged: "No schedule.

I haven’t been idle since last year, so I didn’t have time to take pictures of [Above the Cliff].”

"That's such a pity. I've always wanted to work with director Zhang Yimou, but unfortunately I didn't have the chance."

Although the box office of the "Wolf Warrior" series directed by Wu Jing far exceeds that of Zhang Yimou's movies, box office does not determine everything.

Even though Zhang Yimou has not yet made a movie with a box office of billions, it does not affect his status as China's number one director. The title of "National Master" was just a joke at the time, but now it has been recognized by the people of the country and the government.

Gu Wei also expressed some emotion: "I met Director Zhang when we were filming [The Great Wall], and sometimes I have to admire him when I think about it.

He is already 70 this year, and they say that life is rare in seventy years, but he looks as energetic as a young man in his twenties or thirties.

In the past few years, he has directed one or two movies almost every year. In addition to the already released "One Second" and "On the Cliff", I know that he is also preparing two movies this year, "Sniper" and "Solid as a Rock".

The most exaggerated thing is that he can also take on some official tasks and serve as the chief director for some major events.

You said this kind of work efficiency and energy are not like a 70-year-old man?"

The chief director of the large-scale live performance held in Tiananmen in 2019 was Zhang Yimou.

After this event was completed, Director Zhang filmed [One Second] and also served as the supervising producer for [My Hometown and Me].

At present, in addition to preparing the two movies mentioned by Gu Wei, he has also taken on another official task and became the chief director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

You must know that being a director requires far more time and energy than an actor. Zhang Yimou's abundant energy and positive work attitude can definitely put most young directors in the circle to shame.

"You said that when I meet Director Zhang some time, I have to ask him what secrets he has for maintaining his body. If I learn it, I can still play for another 20 years."

Hearing what Wu Jing said, Gu Wei also laughed: "You don't have to ask Director Zhang. If you have a chance, ask Brother Cheng Long. I remember he was born in 1954 and should be exactly 20 years older than you. He is still a treasure trove."

I heard that he is preparing a movie called "The Spirit of Dragon and Horse", which tells the story of the dragon and tiger warriors in Hong Kong movies.

I feel like Brother Cheng Long can still film for many more years.”

May 13th.

Gu Wei, who had been back filming for two weeks, asked for leave again. "The Crowd" was about to be released. He came out to attend the premiere of the film, and then followed the crew for a two-day road show.

The previous "Happy Camp" and "Run" that Reba participated in have been aired, and the intensive publicity in the recent period has also spread the fame of "The Crowd" a lot.

"May I ask Mr. Gu Wei, what made you take the role of [The Crowd]?"

Reporters present at the premiere interviewed the creators on stage.

"Actually, Director Rao came to me at the beginning. He said he wanted to make such a movie, which was very interesting. He said that the role of "Chen Xiaomeng" in it was particularly suitable for me.

Later I read the script and the story was indeed interesting, but my character was too decadent.

Just tell him if it doesn’t match my personal image.”

Everyone laughed when he said this.

“Then Director Rao said that this way there would be a sense of contrast, and that playing this kind of role would better highlight my acting skills.

I was fooled by him into accepting this drama.”

"What considerations did Director Rao take in selecting the actors?" the reporter asked Rao Xiaozhi again.

“Of course it’s the suitability for the roles. I think the leading actors are the most suitable actors to play the roles in the movie.

The facts prove that there is nothing wrong with my idea.”

"We all know that this is the second time for you, Teacher Zhang Songwen, to work with Teacher Gu Wei. Does it feel any different from the previous filming of "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils"?"

Zhang Songwen took the microphone from Rao Xiaozhi and said with a smile: "Of course it's different.

In "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils", I played the big bad guy, the leader of a cult, which was the opposite of Gu Wei's character.

This time we are a team."

Gu Wei smiled at the side and said: "But you are still a killer this time."

"But I, a killer, have never killed anyone but saved many people!"

"Haha, yes, he looks like a killer but is actually an actor."

As a comedy movie, "The Crowd" is qualified.

After the interview, the movie was shown. From the beginning to the end, there were bursts of laughter in the venue from time to time.

Seeing this, Rao Xiaozhi felt relieved.

"My crew hasn't finished filming yet, so I can only follow the team for two days of roadshows. The rest is up to Director Rao." After the premiere, Gu Wei said to Rao Xiaozhi.

"Don't worry, Mr. Gu, I'm familiar with leading the team for roadshows, there won't be any problems."

He hesitated and couldn't help asking.

"The recent film market has been a bit sluggish after the May Day holiday. Do you think our film has a chance to get a high box office?"

Gu Wei turned his head and looked at him: "What are your expectations?"

"If we just look at the quality of the film, I think the box office will be about 500 million to 1 billion, but with you joining, it will be at least 2 billion."

Gu Wei laughed after hearing what he said, and patted Rao Xiaozhi on the shoulder: "Who did you learn this from to flatter?"

"How can I flatter? I'm telling you the truth!"

"Okay, I'll take what you said as the truth."

Gu Wei thought for a while: "Actually, if you ask me to predict, I don't have an accurate number in my mind.

But I don't think the number you said at the beginning is a problem, but I can't say what height it will reach in the end."

Gu Wei was telling the truth.

The original version of "The Crowd" had a total domestic box office of more than 600 million, and it was released during this year's Spring Festival.

In terms of the reputation of the movie when it was released, this box office is actually low.

There is no way. During the Spring Festival, Hello, Li Huanying and Detective Chinatown 3 were very popular, and these two movies accounted for the vast majority of the screenings.

The rest was occupied by two fantasy movies, Assassination of Novelist and Order of the Samurai, and the screenings for Raging Fire were really limited.

Under such unfavorable conditions, Raging Fire still managed to get 600 million box office with good reputation, which shows that this movie is really liked by many audiences.

Now the movie schedule has been moved to May. In the current movie market, although it is far less popular than the Spring Festival schedule, Raging Fire occupies the absolute majority of the screenings.

Several movies during the May Day schedule have passed the hot screening period, and the only new movie released at the same time is a Hong Kong love movie Touching Her 77 Times.

You can tell from the name that it is a bad movie.

So Raging Fire can get more than 50% of the national screenings under this situation.

In addition, with Gu Wei as the leading actor, its box office appeal is far better than Huazai.

So it is certain that this version of "Raging Fire" will exceed the original version at the box office, but Gu Wei has no exact number in his mind, 1 billion, 1.5 billion, 2 billion or more.