Huayu started by giving the system to female stars

Chapter 268 267. The king of the new generation of commercial films is none other than Director Wei

"What did you get?"

Xu Fan, who had just entered from outside, raised the red invitation in his hand and said:

"Wei Wu sent us an invitation to attend the celebration banquet of "Painted Skin"."

Feng Xiaogang frowned: "What day?"

Xu Fan replied: "The day after tomorrow at ten o'clock in the morning, Capital Hotel."

"Didn't the screening of "Painted Skin" be postponed for one month?"

Xu Fan nodded and said, "Yes, so this celebration banquet is mainly to celebrate "Painted Skin" breaking the box office record!"

The "Painted Skin" celebration banquet is not only for celebration, but also for publicity, so it is held in advance.

This situation is quite similar to that of "Silver Driver", which held a celebration party in advance to celebrate its box office exceeding 100 million.

Xu Fan poured himself a glass of water, drank it in one gulp, and then looked at Feng Xiaogang:

"Shall we go?"

Feng Xiaogang smiled bitterly and said, "Is it possible not to go? Chen Kaige previously attended the groundbreaking ceremony of Bad Monkey's 72 Transformations, and Zhang Yimou attended the premiere of "Painted Skin".

"Both of them have gone, but I haven't done anything yet.

"You also know that Wei Wu is a small-minded person. Now that "Painted Skin" has exceeded 300 million in box office and won the championship in Chinese film history, it is a time of great satisfaction. If you don't give him face, he won't remember it. ?”

When Feng Xiaogang said that Wei Wu was young, Xu Fan couldn't help but laugh out loud. Now he still said with a smile on his face:

"Young people are like this, who is not energetic when they are young?

"Chen Kaige had a verbal spat with Wei Wu before! Isn't this the same as just turning his back on himself to support him?

"Zhang Yimou's previous film "Ride Alone, Thousands of Miles" was released on the same day as Wei Wu, but the box office was bombed, and he was ridiculed for this.

"When Wei Wu invited him, he went anyway.

"At least we have no grudge against Wei Wu. It's okay to go and feel happy. Everyone can carry the sedan chair!"

When Xu Fan spoke, she kept paying attention to her husband's face. If there was any change in his face, she would shut up immediately.

Xu Fan's words are somewhat evasive. To say that they have no grudges against Wei Wu would be a bit deceptive.

Last year, "The Banquet" would have been the runner-up at the annual box office if it hadn't been overtaken by Wei Wu's "Silver Driver".

In the end, he only got the 2nd place. Not only was the runner-up robbed by Wei Wu's "Silver Driver", but even the third runner-up was robbed by Wei Wu's "Those Years".

However, compared to Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, at least the grievances between Feng Xiaogang and Wei Wu are not on the table.

And really speaking, Wei Wu cannot be blamed for this matter.

After all, Wei Wu's "Silver Driver" is scheduled for National Day, not to compete with Feng Xiaogang's "The Banquet", but mainly to avoid "The Golden Jacket" which is scheduled for the Lunar New Year.

The reason why Xu Fan wrote in Spring and Autumn Period is of course because he hoped that his husband could attend Wei Wu's celebration banquet.

She knew that her husband could judge the situation, but she was afraid that he would get into trouble. Sometimes his temper would be very stubborn!

After all, Wei Wu's soaring momentum is unstoppable, and he is so young, it is too late to curry favor with him, let alone offend him.

And now everyone gives him face, even Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige are no exception. If you, Feng Xiaogang, don't give him face, doesn't that show you off?

Feng Xiaogang suddenly sighed and said: "Actually, there is one thing that I really don't want to complain about.

"Now a large number of people on the Internet are advocating that Wei Wu is the savior of mainland actors. But I want to say that "Painted Skin" is not the only commercial blockbuster with a purely mainland cast. Isn't "Assembly" not the only one?"

Not to mention outsiders, even Xu Fan was stunned for a moment.

Xu Fan carefully recalled that the main actors in "Assembly" are Zhang Hanyu, Deng Chao, Yuan Wenkang, Tang Yan, Liao Fan, Wang Baoqiang, etc., all mainland actors.

Xu Fan slapped his thigh and said, "Don't mention it yet, right, our "Assembly" also has an entirely mainland cast! Why doesn't anyone mention it?"

"Since the all-mainland cast card is so useful, we can play it too!"

Feng Xiaogang shook his head: "Wei Wu was the first to eat crabs, so the effect is outstanding!

“Even if we try to imitate something, it’s just imitation.

"People will say that Wei Wu is the first revolutionary hero. At best, we can be regarded as opportunists who responded to the revolution. Half of the credit must be attributed to him."

Xu Fan was speechless for a moment, and then sighed after a long while:

"Oh, time waits for no one! It would be great if "Assembly" could be released before "Painted Skin"!"

But Xu Fan didn't know that in his previous life, "Assembly" was actually released before "Painted Skin", almost 10 months earlier.

The previous life "Painted Skin" was released on September 26, 2008, while "Assembly" was released on December 20, 2007.

Moreover, "Assembly" has a purely mainland cast, while the second male lead in "Painted Skin" is Donnie Yen, which is obviously not that pure.

So why doesn't anyone praise Feng Xiaogang?

The reason is simple, because "Assembly" is a group drama with the main theme.

If someone wants to argue with you, why do you say "Assembly" is a main theme movie?

The reason is simple, because "News Lianbo" helped promote this movie, and it was before "Assembly Number" was released.

For a group drama with a main theme like this, as long as the acting skills are online, the box office may be slightly different if you use star actors or ordinary actors, but the difference is not that big.

For the same reason, whether you use Hong Kong and Taiwan actors or mainland actors, it's basically the same.

This is not only the case in "Assembly", but also in "Operation Mekong", "Operation Red Sea", "Eight Hundred" and "Changjin Lake" without exception.

Even if it is the same main theme movie, group scenes and one-man shows are very different.

For example, "Wolf Warrior 2" and "Operation Red Sea" were the annual box office champions in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

But "Wolf Warrior 2" made Wu Jing famous overnight, and he became a prominent figure in the Chinese film industry.

Being Zhang Yi, the male lead in "Operation Red Sea", the benefits gained from this film are relatively limited.

After all, the impression he left on the audience with his appearance in this movie with a box office of 3.65 billion was not even as good as "The Chaser" with a box office of 135 million!

All I can say is that the audience’s eyes are sharp!

Although "Assembly" has an all-mainland cast, the reason why this situation occurs——

It's not because Feng Xiaogang sided with mainland actors out of selfishness, but simply to save money.

The reason why "Assembly" does not have a single Hong Kong and Taiwan actor is also very simple, because Hong Kong and Taiwan actors are too expensive.

Although the budget of "Assembly" is 80 million, it is still insufficient for a blockbuster film.

Since the last movie "The Night Banquet" lost a lot of money, Feng Xiaogang couldn't talk about increasing the budget, so he could only reduce the budget for actors' remuneration, and finally reduced it to 1 million.

The reason why it can be so low has a lot to do with the fact that most of the actors in this movie are members of Huayi.

Zhang Hanyu had the most scenes and the highest salary in the film, but his salary did not exceed 200,000.

And like Wang Baoqiang and Deng Chao, they almost all appeared with zero pay.

Wang Baoqiang chose to star in the film for free, mainly to repay Feng Xiaogang's kindness in "A World Without Thieves".

As for Deng Chao, it was different. The reason why he did this was to win Feng Xiaogang's favor so that he could get Feng Xiaogang's support votes in the competition for Huayi's first brother.

Unexpectedly, it was self-defeating. Because Deng Chao was in love with Sun Li at that time, he was often absent-minded and occasionally arrived late and left early, which annoyed Feng Xiaogang.

Deng Chao had an idea but failed to implement it.

The flattery was slapped on the horse's hooves, which directly forced Feng Xiaogang into Huang Xiaoming's camp, which indirectly led to his elimination.

His own family knows his own affairs, but others don't know the inside story. Feng Xiaogang naturally has a clear family background.

That's why he didn't dare to play the "purely mainland cast" card, otherwise he might get backlash, and then he would really be "stealing the chicken but losing the rice".

…

Time passed by on July 27. Feng Xiaogang and Xu Fan dressed up and arrived at the Capital Hotel. They saw that the lobby on the second floor of the Capital Hotel was crowded with guests.

Today, reporters with cameras hanging around their necks can be seen everywhere. After all, the celebration party for "Painted Skin" is being held here.

"Director Wei, congratulations to "Painted Skin" for breaking 300 million in box office!"

Seeing Feng Xiaogang and his wife appear, Wei Wu couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth:

"Thank you, Sister Xu Ban," Wei Wu said, taking the gift box from Xu Ban and saying with a smile:

"Too polite!"

"Director Wei, congratulations to "Painted Skin" for becoming the box office champion in Chinese film history!"

Wei Wu immediately smiled and stretched out his hand to shake Feng Xiaogang's hand and said:

"Thank you. I have admired Director Feng for a long time. Today I can see his true form."

Feng Xiaogang also laughed and said: "I don't dare to take it seriously. During this period, Director Wei Wu's name has really started to grow in my ears!"

"Nowadays, the only mainland director who is the leading director is Director Wei! The king of the new generation of commercial films is none other than Director Wei!"

In fact, if we really want to say it, the king of the first generation of domestic commercial films should be Feng Xiaogang.

In 1998, "See You or Separate" ranked first in the year with a box office of 43 million; in 1999, "Endless" ranked third in the year with a box office of 33 million; in 2000, "A Sigh" ranked second in the year with a box office of 30 million.

"Big Shot" ranked second in 2001 with 43 million, "Mobile" ranked first in 2003 with 56 million, and "A World Without Thieves" ranked third in 2004 with 120 million.

In that era when Hollywood movies and Hong Kong movies were very popular, it was nothing short of a miracle that Feng Xiaogang could consistently rank among the top three of the year.

Then in 2006, 2007 and 2008, Feng Xiaogang won the annual box office runner-up for three consecutive years with "The Banquet" (130 million), "Assembly" (210 million) and "If You Are the One" (260 million) respectively.

In 2009, Feng Xiaogang had no movies released. Then in 2010, Feng Xiaogang won the second and fourth places respectively with "Tangshan Earthquake" (649 million) and "If You Are the One 2" (471 million).

What a terrifying box office dominance this is, which lasted from 1998 to 2010. During these 13 years, Feng Xiaogang released a total of 11 movies.

Even "If You Are the One 2", which was the lowest-ranked movie of the year, ranked fourth in the year.

During this period, Feng Xiaogang won the annual box office championship twice, the annual box office runner-up 6 times, the annual box office third place 2 times, and the annual box office runner-up once.

But if you exclude Hollywood movies and Hong Kong movies from the statistics, you will be surprised to find——

Seven of Feng Xiaogang's 11 films had the highest box office among domestic films that year, and were the annual box office champions of domestic films.

During these 13 years, Feng Xiaogang won 7 domestic box office championships.

Zhang Yimou won 3, "Hero" in 2002, "House of Flying Daggers" in 2003, and "The Golden Armor" in 2006.

Chen Kaige won 1, which was "The Promise" in 2005.

These three brothers have almost won all the annual box office championships from 1998 to 2010. The only exceptions are "Life and Death" in 2000 and "The Founding of the People's Republic of China" in 2009.

However, these two movies are both main-theme movies with a large number of stars starring for free.

It’s not surprising that they won the annual box office championship for domestic films, but it would be surprising that they didn’t win.

It should be noted that in the past 13 years, Feng Xiaogang has not had a movie released every year. He was absent in 2002, 2005 and 2009.

In other words, Feng Xiaogang has only had three movies released, but he has not won the domestic box office championship.

The first time in 2000, "A Sigh" lost to "Decision of Life and Death" and finished second. The second time in 2004, "A World of Thieves" lost to "House of Flying Daggers" and finished third. The third time was in 2006 when "The Night Banquet" lost to "Golden Armor" finished second.

It can be seen that Feng Xiaogang is indeed the well-deserved king of the first generation of domestic commercial films.

It can be seen from the above data that at least in terms of the movie's box office appeal, Feng Xiaogang is simply invincible!

At the same time, it can also be seen that Chen Kaige is just a make-up person.

The commercial success of his films was completely inadequate compared to the other two directors.

If it weren't for the Palme d'Or, he wouldn't be worthy of being on par with the other two.

But among the strong, there is a strong opponent. Even though Feng Xiaogang was invincible, he was still killed by Zhang Yimou twice in head-on confrontations.

Coupled with "Hero" and "The City of Gold", the box office record of domestic movies has been significantly refreshed twice.

Therefore, Zhang Yimou kicked Feng Xiaogang away and successfully crowned himself the king of the second generation of domestic commercial films.

After all, Zhang Yimou snatched the throne from him, so when Feng Xiaogang said this, he was more or less gloating.

Lao Zhang can't do this either. He has only been on the throne for a few years and his butt is not yet warm. He is about to be kicked down again.

Just like "The Golden Armor", the title of Chinese-language film history lasted for less than half a year, and then was surpassed by "Painted Skin".

This incident can be regarded as the first time Wei Wu lost Zhang Yimou's face in public, including the previous box office performance of "On the Road" which beat "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles" at the box office.

In other words, Zhang Yimou has been humiliated twice by Wei Wu without any courtesy!

Is this Wei Wu Zhang Yimou's destined nemesis?

No, this Wei Wu should be the nemesis of all of us.

This guy seems to have some good luck!

Chen Kaige's "The Promise", his own "The Night Banquet", and Zhang Yimou's "The Golden Armor" have all become popular!

If the three of us hadn’t stretched our hips one after another, it would have exposed him!

Even if the box office of "Painted Skin" exceeds 300 million, Wei Wu's current reputation will not be so high.

Honestly speaking, "Painted Skin" is indeed good, but it's not that outstanding.

However, due to the three consecutive hits of "The Promise", "The Night Banquet" and "Golden Armor", the audience's expectations for domestic commercial blockbusters have been reduced to freezing point.

Even if "Painted Skin" is at a passing level, the audience will praise it.

As a result, "Painted Skin" not only passed the test, but was also at an excellent level, so of course it was praised to the heavens.

All I can say is that "every time comes, heaven and earth all work together", it really can't be stopped!

As the king of the first generation of commercial films, Feng Xiaogang's words made Wei Wu feel a little elated, but he still said modestly:

"Director Feng is such an award! I can't afford such a prestigious title."

Feng Xiaogang came here to congratulate and support him today, so naturally he said something nice:

"If you can afford it, what can't you afford? Let alone the king of domestic commercial films, even if you are the number one director in the Mainland, sooner or later you will have to fall to you."

Wei Wu quickly waved his hands and said, "I can't accept what Director Xiaogang said! You are just flattering me!"

"I still know how much I weigh, so why should I covet that position?"

Feng Xiaogang waved his hand and said decisively:

"I'll leave the words here, it'll be a matter of time!"

Wei Wu shook his head repeatedly: "Director Xiaogang is really good at joking, I really don't dare to think about it.

"Why don't Director Xiaogang invite me in? Please don't praise me anymore, I'm already sweating! I can't stand anymore!"

Feng Xiaogang laughed loudly and said: "Okay, let's go in first and see you later."

"Well, see you later."