Millennium director

It seems that Zhang Guorong has become less strict about body and image management in the past two years due to being behind the scenes.

Wu Yuan hadn't seen him for a long time. When he suddenly saw him today, he clearly felt that he had gained a lot of weight. His oval face was a little thicker, and his figure was also a lot wider. He had gained at least fifteen kilograms.

"Oh, as I'm getting older and I can't control my mouth now, it's inevitable to gain weight."

Zhang Guorong was very calm. He sat down with a smile and said, "Since my debut, I have been controlling my diet in order not to gain weight."

"Most of my life will pass by. If I don't eat something good and enjoy myself, then this life will not be in vain."

"Just be fatter, just be healthy!"

Wu Yuan raised his eyebrows, smiled and joked: "Your fans will cry to death when they see you have gained weight?"

"That's not true." Unexpectedly, Zhang Guorong shook his head proudly: "I originally thought that fans would scold me for being undisciplined after gaining weight, but I didn't expect that fans are very tolerant and said that I look good like this."

Oh, Hong Kong fans are much more tolerant than before.

But Wu Yuan can understand when he thinks about the last singer in Hong Kong who was later called Fei Chen.

Even if Zhang Guorong gains weight, he is not as fat as Eason Chan, and his appearance is still online.

After chatting for a few words, Wu Yuan also brought the chat back to the main topic.

"I've prepared a script for you."

"Didn't you ask Mr. Li some time ago if he had any films to shoot?"

As he spoke, Wu Yuan took out a script he had prepared from the drawer and handed it to Zhang Guorong.

""Walking with the Gods"?" Zhang Guorong took the script and read it curiously.

“Legend has it that all the dead must undergo seven trials in the underworld within 49 days after their death—in the prison of murder, the prison of laziness, the prison of deception, the prison of injustice, the prison of betrayal, the prison of violence, and the prison of family relationships. Only Only those who have been acquitted after seven trials have a chance to be reborn."

"Fireman Li Jin unfortunately died trying to save a child in a fire. Hell's messengers Fan Wujiu and Xie Bian appeared in front of Li Jin..."

As the 16th local film in the history of Korean films to exceed 10 million viewers, the total number of viewers reached 14.41 million, ranking second among outstanding commercial films in Korean film history.

There is no doubt that the movie "Along with the Gods" is excellent.

More importantly, the background story of this movie can be easily changed to the local Chinese world view.

The Korean underworld and King Yama are themselves myths and legends passed down from China.

Not only Korea, but Japan also has the legend of King Yama, and this myth is also used in the "Dragon Ball" comics.

In East Asia, it can be said that the myths and legends of all countries were spread from China. This should be regarded as the earliest cultural invasion in the world.

It's just that it's shameless to steal from the country. After passing it on, they don't recognize it as the culture of the sovereign country. They shamelessly think that these are South Korea's own traditional culture, and even want to apply for World Heritage.

Wu Yuan thought, since it was going to be stolen in the future, he might as well trigger the omen of theft first and steal a movie with a Chinese mythological and legendary background like "Along with the Gods".

This movie is said to be a special effects blockbuster, but in fact it does not use many special effects. It is on the same level as "Painted Skin 2". In fact, the main selling point is the story.

The male protagonist, the "nobleman" of the underworld, appears to have gone through the seven levels of hell after arriving in the underworld, but in fact, his tortuous life is unfolded in front of the audience, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in his life. Experience a tragic story.

Technically speaking, there won’t be any problems shooting now.

"Leslie, I heard that you also want to try a commercial special effects blockbuster. It just so happens that the theme of this movie is quite suitable for you."

"It has special effects, but it's not big in scale. It's just right as a training work."

"If the box office results are good, the company can start arranging a sequel for you with greater special effects scenes."

"This is the company's second fantasy film series after 'Painted Skin.'"

"How about giving it a try?"

Zhang Guorong, who lowered his head and studied the script carefully, was not fooled by Wu Yuan's words, but continued to read the script in his hand word for word.

The story of "Along with the Gods" completely attracted him.

The deep love between mother and son and the love between brothers described in the script are really touching, and are expressions of family love that are very characteristic of Asian culture.

Just by reading the script, Zhang Guorong was moved by the story.

After a long while, he took his eyes away from the script, raised his head and sighed: "Director Wu, you are really good at writing scripts."

"When it comes to describing family relationships, you are the best Chinese director I have ever seen."

"From "The Embalmer" to "Li Wen" to "Along with the Gods," the emotional reflections in these movies are so full."

"Just looking at the script, it's really hard to imagine that it was written by a young man under 30 years old."

Faced with Zhang Guorong's sincere praise, Wu Yuan had no emotion at all and just shrugged: "Maybe this is talent."

There was no way, he couldn't tell the truth, he had copied this all by opening the Blood Chakra Eye, right?

"How about giving it a try?" he asked again.

"Pah." Closing the script with force, Zhang Guorong nodded firmly: "Give it a try!"

After making commercial movies like "Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy", Zhang Guorong is now very confident and dares to make some commercial movies with higher investment.

"Okay, the cost is 100 million, and the production and shooting cycle is one year. The preliminary preparations and specific budget will be completed as soon as possible, and we will try to start filming next year."

Wu Yuan was also very decisive and immediately dumped 100 million.

Apart from anything else, Wu Yuan is very confident in Zhang Guorong's ability to repay his capital.

"Good Guys, Bad Guys, Weird Guys" relied on Zhang Guorong's influence in the circle of Korean aunts and uncles, coupled with its own commercial appeal, and finally received 5.26 million moviegoers after it was released in South Korea.

The average price of a movie ticket in South Korea is around 50 yuan. One million moviegoers can generate a box office of 50 million, and five million moviegoers is 250 million.

Even if the producer can only get 30% in the end, that’s still 80 million!

"Along with the Gods" will also continue to focus on the Korean market. Not to mention that it can get 14 million moviegoers like the original local film, but cutting it in half to get 7 million is enough to recoup the cost and make a small profit.

Coupled with the huge domestic market, it can be said that among the directors under the company, Zhang Guorong is the one who can best handle the box office and has the least pressure to repay the money, except Wu Yuan.

Who told him to bring his own Korean market?

However, Zhang Guorong unexpectedly hesitated and said, "Director Wu, wouldn't 100 million be enough?"

"This film requires a lot of special effects. Your film "Gravity" cost 350 million yuan. Even if "Along with the Gods" doesn't need that many special effects shots, it still costs 150 million yuan, right?"

Wu Yuan rolled his eyes and said angrily: "Can this film compare with "Gravity"?"

"The company's own special effects team does special effects at cost price. 100 million is definitely enough. Even if there is a possibility of overspending, it will only cost an additional 20 million at most. It is impossible to use 150 million."

The original version of "Along with the Gods" was produced in 2016 and cost just over 100 million. Even though the special effects costs at that time were cheaper than now, Wu Yuan gave Zhang Guorong 100 million even though he had his own special effects company. , it must be more than enough and sufficient for expenditure.

"Just listen to me. No one in the country knows special effects better than me."

"I will let the company's special effects team and producers help you make a budget later, don't worry."

As he said that, Wu Yuan rolled his eyes and asked with a half-smile: "You didn't believe Bona's nonsense, did you?"

Recently, Bona's boss has made a lot of public remarks, mainly saying that Bona is going to make a special effects blockbuster.

The success of "Gravity" can be said to have stimulated a large number of domestic film production companies.

With a cost of 350 million, there were only 1.5 starring actors and 2 guest actors in the movie. All the money was spent on special effects and scenery production. The money was spent wisely, and then it was exchanged for 620 million yuan in mainland China. exaggerated box office.

Although this result is partly influenced by official promotion, it still shocked the industry.

"Gravity" breaks the current style of big-budget mainland movies, which is to pile up big names. It doesn't matter if the big names are gathered together, it is good and it guarantees the box office.

This is a method of shooting blockbusters that is hard to change in the post-"Hero" era. This standard has been followed from "A City of Gold" to "Red Cliff".

However, "Gravity" broke this convention. Only Gong Li, the mainland's number one actress, performed a one-woman show. All the money was spent on the production, and it was a great success!

As a result, a large number of film companies in the mainland immediately changed their direction and wanted to create special effects blockbusters. They spent money on special effects instead of hiring actors.

Among them, the loudest one is Bona.

Bona said that he wanted to make a Chinese myth and legend movie with an investment of at least 200 million, of which 150 million will be spent on special effects, and adapt it based on the IP of "The Legend of White Snake".

This news is the most exciting news in the film industry in the past week.

"Leslie, don't listen to Bona's nonsense. How can they spend 200 million to make a movie? Even if he can spare so much money, it's impossible for all the money to be used for special effects."

"If Bona really paid so much attention to special effects, then the special effects companies in the Light and Shadow Era would have already received cooperation contacts from Bona."

"He just blew it casually to stimulate the market. After all, there are rumors that companies in the film and television industry will be allowed to go public. Bona also wants to go public with PPT to raise funds to harvest leeks."

The movie Bona was talking about was "The Legend of the White Snake" that he later made with Yang Zi!

Putting aside Yang Zi's praise of female stars, let's talk about the rumored investment of 180 million for this movie. Everyone in the industry knows how much this means.

Not to mention 180 million, it is estimated that the entire film did not cost 100 million. Li Lianjie was still deceived on the pretext of "guest appearance". As a result, Fa Hai, who made a guest appearance, became the one with the most scenes.

The special effects are also incredibly bad.

Wu Yuan didn't expect that Zhang Guorong would believe Bona's farts!

"Leslie, I have to be the most professional when it comes to special effects. Listen to me and you are right." Wu Yuan patted his chest and said. (End of chapter)