Huayu started as a lecturer at Beijing Film Academy

As time came to the end of February, after one month of release, the box office of "Ball Lightning" has reached 960 million, breaking the highest box office record of Chinese-language films, while "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" released at the same time finally closed with a score of more than 700 million.

It has to be said that Zhou Xingxing's brand is really strong. Under the complete collapse of the male lead Wen Zhang and the attack of "Ball Lightning", it still cut more than 700 million box office. Although it is 500 million less than the 1.2 billion box office in the previous life, it is enough to prove its influence.

In order to sprint to the 1 billion mark, Zongheng Film and Television applied for a film key extension. Finally, in early March, more than a month after the film was released, the total box office officially reached 1 billion!

This is also the first Chinese-language film in the history of the mainland to have a box office of more than 1 billion. It is of great significance. Whether for the production company or the film market, many people in the industry exclaimed that this achievement will be difficult to surpass in three years.

But only Gu Zhongyu knows that this record will not last long. In the second half of the year, a movie called "Lost in Thailand" will break it. There will be countless movies with a box office of more than 100 billion yuan in the future. The domestic film market is developing too fast!

It is worth mentioning that the Douban score of "Ball Lightning" has reached 8.5 points. For commercial films, it is already very high. After all, "Let the Bullets Fly" released two years ago only scored 8.8 points on Douban. According to Douban's evaluation rules, foreign films add one point and domestic films subtract one point. His movie is a classic with 9 points!

The movie has achieved such a great result, so it is natural to celebrate. Since Gu Zhongyu was filming in Chang'an, he simply invited everyone to hold a celebration banquet here.

Except for Yang Mi who was filming in another place and could not come, all the original crew members of "Ball Lightning" were present. They found a five-star hotel in our store and invited the main creators of "The Longest Day in Chang'an" to come. Anyway, most of them are employees of Zongheng Film and Television, so they just treated it as a company team building.

At the dinner table, Gu Zhongyu was squeezed in the middle by Wan Qian and Nazha. After three months of filming, the relationship between the two women has not eased. They are still often jealous of each other because of something, but basically Nazha, whose IQ is worrying, suffers every time.

Now they are not quiet during the meal. The two women frequently put food into Gu Zhongyu's bowl. Soon, a small mountain of plates piled up in front of him.

Others looked at him with envy. This blessing of having two wives is too enviable!

I don't know what they would think if they saw the little movements of the three people under the table. Anyway, Gu Zhongyu feels a little too exciting now!

"Mr. Gu, Zhou Xingxing has agreed to take over "The Mermaid". He chose the first plan, with a high salary + dividends." Gong Geer followed Zhou Xingxing for more than a month and finally convinced him.

"Zhou Xingxing? Isn't he competing with our film? Why would he come to direct for us?" Zhou Yiwei asked curiously. Both films were so popular during the Spring Festival, so did they become enemies so quickly?

Gu Zhongyu smiled calmly: "Because we offered him a number he couldn't refuse."

"How much?"

Then Gong Geer stretched out three fingers.

Thirty million?

No wonder Zhou Xingxing turned from an enemy to a friend so quickly. He was paid thirty million for directing a movie. If it were me, I would consider making a third-level movie, not to mention acting in a movie!

At this time, Gu Zhongyu noticed that Guo Fan, the director, had been absent-minded since the beginning of the meeting, and he didn't know what he was thinking about.

"My great director Guo, are you dissatisfied with the food or the wine? You have been standing here distracted. What's wrong? Spring is here. Is it time to plant the rice seedlings?"

"No, no, I am thinking about going abroad."

"Traveling? Take me with you!" Gong Geer and Guo Fan have been like conjoined twins for a while. They wish they could only order a young lady for health care!

"No, I want to go to Hollywood for further study."

It turned out that the Radio, Film and Television Bureau had launched a plan to invite young directors to study abroad some time ago, allowing them to go to Paramount Pictures in the United States to study and observe. Guo Fan, Chen Sicheng, Wuershan, Ning Hao and others were all invited.

But if they go to study, it will take at least a few months or at most a year to return to China, and the sequel to "Ball Lightning" will definitely be postponed, so Guo Fan is still hesitating whether to accept this invitation.

"Why do you suddenly want to study in Hollywood?"

"Because I don't have confidence..."

Guo Fan said frankly that although the first part of "Ball Lightning" was a great success and broke the box office record, the pressure that followed also increased suddenly. He was very worried whether the sequel could continue the glory, and he lacked confidence in his directing ability.

He seriously considered that the movie "Ball Lightning" had Liu Cixin's original work as the foundation, Gu Zhongyu and Gong Ge'er's carefully improved script, a complete and efficient Xiantao digital special effects team, and a film plan that had been prepared for two or three years. Everything had been prepared long ago. He, as a director, was more like a tool man, and he only needed to follow the procedures to be foolproof.

"Frankly speaking, even if Mr. Gu didn't find me this time, he could find a director with strong execution and decent level to make this movie, and he might not be worse than me..."

"So I have been thinking, what is so great about me? Unfortunately, it seems that I don't have a brain longer than other directors, so in order not to disappoint the trust of the company and Mr. Gu, and for me to continue to direct science fiction movies better in the future, I want to study abroad for a while and settle down."

After listening to Guo Fan's ideas, Gu Zhongyu was very happy. He was originally worried that if he made him famous in advance, there would be a risk of forcing him to grow too fast. But now it seems that he was overthinking. He has always been true to his heart and has not been deceived by fame and fortune.

To be fair, if it were Gu Zhongyu himself, he might have learned from Liu Huangshu and continued to play music and dance!

"Then go! I'm not in a hurry to shoot a sequel. It doesn't matter if it's two or three years later. You can go to Bai Lao to learn from him. It's best to learn all their film technology!"

"This is the teacher Gu you mentioned. Then I'm really going!" Guo Fan was overjoyed. He was worried that Gu Zhongyu would be eager for quick success and insisted that he finish the sequel!

"Just go, I'm not your girlfriend, why are you being so cheesy! Look at Gong Geer, he was so reluctant to let you go, he almost cried."

Gong Geer, the fat guy, cooperated and hugged Guo Fan, whispering in his ear: "Fan Fan, you can't leave me! Every night without you, I will have to stay alone in my empty room, right?"

"Brother, get out!" Guo Fan kicked the disgusting Gong Geer away.

"Hahaha!" A cheerful laugh came from the hall.