Chapter 176 - Dirty Jokes Destroy curse of the golden flower
"With Xiao Li Zi, Wanda Group, and Enlight Media supporting, it's hard for Youku not to be popular!"
"After all that, they didn't acquire TVB but invested in Youku. That feint was brilliant."
"Huayi Brothers does movies, TV series, and singing, all within the entertainment industry. Xiao Li Zi has already stepped into video streaming!"
"When the Hurun Rich List updates next month, if Xiao Li Li's name isn't on it, he shouldn't show his face and embarrass himself!"
The netizens' discussions even piqued Liu Xiaoli's curiosity.
The mother and daughter had a private conversation.
"Xixi, has Li Chen ever told you about his family assets?"
Liu Xiaoli sat on the sofa, drinking coffee, chatting with her daughter in a relaxed mood.
"I don't care about that. Mom, if you want to know, I'll call him, and you can ask him yourself. I guarantee he wouldn't dare to lie!"
Liu Yifei, sitting opposite Liu Xiaoli with a book, joked with a smile.
Liu Xiaoli laughed and scolded, "Silly girl, what would it look like if I asked?"
"Our mother and daughter aren't short on money. I'm just curious how suddenly Li Chen and Chen Jingfei seem to be on different levels."
At this point, Liu Yifei put down her book and sighed lightly, "Even Chen Jingfei asked me how much Li Chen is worth. Sigh, it's so annoying!"
Chen Jingfei had even told her privately that if their relationship was stable, they should secretly get their marriage certificate soon.
She hadn't even dared to mention it to her mother.
Besides, she didn't want to get married so early. She felt that things were good with Li Chen as they were now.
Liu Xiaoli didn't give her daughter any face: "You're already annoyed now? Fan Bingbing is just the beginning. You'll have more to be annoyed about later, unless you dump Li Chen!"
Photos of Fan Bingbing, her, and Li Chen at the so young Premiere were infinitely magnified by gossip media.
They said Liu Yifei's strongest rival, Fan Bingbing, was openly challenging her, and even Liu Xiaoli noticed.
Liu Yifei had also been trained by Li Chen and retorted to her mother, "I'll tell Xiao Li Zi what you said, that you told me to dump him. Let's see what he says."
The mother and daughter teased Li Chen at home.
Li Chen was busy at the company with the selection for the 'draw the bow, Dad' child actor finals.
Ultimately, two child actors were chosen: Dilraba Dilmurat and Hazikizi from Xinjiang Province.
Rongchen Film and Television continued to dominate the headlines.
"'draw the bow, Dad' Child Actor National Selection Finals concluded yesterday, with two child actors from Xinjiang Province standing out from tens of thousands of contestants from across the country."
"At the same time, Rongchen Film and Television fulfilled its promise and signed a contract with 14-year-old Dilraba Dilmurat from Xinjiang Province."
"This is the second child actor to sign with a film and television company, following Huayi Brothers' signing of 10-year-old Wang Chengyang, who played the young Wei Xiaobao."
"Dilraba Dilmurat will join Rongchen Film and Television after completing her studies, becoming Rongchen Film and Television's fifth signed artist."
Signing a child actor did not cause any ripples in the entertainment industry.
Just like Huayi Brothers signing Wang Chengyang.
After all, no one could say what a child actor would look like when they grew up.
There were countless examples of child actors who were adorable as children but grew up to look different.
For example, Hao Shaowen, when he stood there as a child, people couldn't help but laugh.
When you saw him grown up, who would know it was him if you didn't say so?
Zhang Weiping gritted his teeth in hatred towards Li Chen. If this continued, he didn't know what other tricks Li Chen had up his sleeve before curse of the golden flower was released.
Forced into a corner, he could only unleash the first move of his prepared backup plan in advance.
"Zhang Weiping fires a cannon from afar, blasting Chow Yun-fat for bad character and acting like a big shot on set!"
Early in the morning, several major portal websites were dominated by this news.
Combined with the fact that Chow Yun-fat had not appeared in the mainland to promote curse of the golden flower recently.
This immediately made the curious public even more intrigued.
Zhang Weiping was the first to criticize Chow Yun-fat.
Before, wasn't Zhang Weiping calling him 'Fa Ge' this and 'Fa Ge' that?
How did he suddenly change his tune?
Reporters connected with Chow Yun-fat, who was also very speechless.
He responded to reporters that his not going to the mainland was at the request of Hong Kong producer Jiang Zhiqiang.
He also retorted to Zhang Weiping, saying that he didn't see him having any opinions on set, but now that filming was over, he was blasting him. Mr. Zhang is truly impressive!
With this, the war of words between Zhang Weiping and Chow Yun-fat began to escalate.
Zhang Weiping exposed that Chow Yun-fat acted like a big shot on set, with all his eating, drinking, shitting, and sleeping being superior to others.
Chow Yun-fat retorted that his film contracts in Hollywood and Asia were all the same, and this was the most basic contract spirit.
In short, their war of words began in early December and continued back and forth until curse of the golden flower was released on the fifteenth.
Only then did it temporarily subside.
At this time, the box office for so young had also exceeded 150 million, with daily box office revenue falling to around 2 million.
curse of the golden flower was the last domestic blockbuster of the year and an Oscar-contending film.
As soon as it was released, its box office showed an unstoppable impact force.
Sina Entertainment
"New Pictures company compiled the box office data for curse of the golden flower's sneak preview after 7 PM on the 14th across national cinemas."
"It learned that in less than half a day on its opening day, curse of the golden flower's national sneak preview box office had already surpassed 15 million, breaking the mainland film sneak preview record."
"This is an unprecedented height since the 'sneak preview' format began to appear in the mainland."
"Jia Zhangke's still life was released on the same day, and compared to the grand success of curse of the golden flower, its cinema attendance rate was less than one percent."
Zhang Weiping finally let out a sigh of relief. Zhang Yimou, far away in America, still didn't know.
Even Yang Siwei was a little worried. At this rate, curse of the golden flower might actually break the 295 million domestic box office record held by painted skin.
She would never allow such a thing to happen.
On Monday, major websites vied to report on curse of the golden flower's first-week box office success.
Morning Post
"According to New Pictures, curse of the golden flower's first-weekend box office reached 96 million, second only to painted skin's 110 million, surpassing titanic, becoming the second-highest-grossing film in history."
"However, curse of the golden flower only had a half-day sneak preview last Thursday, and curse of the golden flower's single-day box office on Saturday broke 40 million, breaking the single-day box office record in film history."
"Gao Jun, manager of Beijing China Film Group Corporation cinema line, confidently predicted: 'curse of the golden flower's box office is expected to reach new heights around the 24th."
"Surpassing painted skin's 295 million and titanic's 340 million, becoming the new box office champion in film history!"
Southern Daily
"The release of curse of the golden flower caused the previously dominant 'so young' and 'battle of wits' to crumble."
"In local Guangzhou cinemas, so young's box office last week reported 7.02 million, while battle of wits plummeted, only taking in 340,000 yuan."
"Surprisingly, still life, which was released on the same day as curse of the golden flower and was preparing to stage a 'love suicide' performance art, actually snatched food from the tiger's mouth, achieving 'tens of thousands' in box office last week, squeezing into the top five of the box office rankings!"
Even Li Chen sighed, admitting that this 'full city of golden armor' really did dominate the charts.
As curse of the golden flower's box office surged, Yang Siwei also unleashed her killer move.
With her growth over the years, she knew that the fastest way to make a film's reputation collapse was through dirty jokes.
Although she didn't want to use such an extreme method, she couldn't just watch curse of the golden flower continue its triumphant march and break painted skin's record.
Moreover, she didn't start the dirty jokes; she was just giving it a little push.
Starting Monday, online reviews of curse of the golden flower, which had been mixed, gradually showed a polarized trend.
'Netizens' treated it equally; how they treated 'The Promise' back then, they treated 'curse of the golden flower' the same, even more so.
"Breasts are like water in a sponge; squeeze them, and there will always be some! To 'full city of golden armor'"
"Please plant golden chrysanthemums all over the so-called palace ground... Ignorant people!"
"Look at the farmer's Green Dragon Crescent Blade, the golden armor, saint cloth, and imperial robes; you men, in front of the men engaging in 'bro-love,' are instantly so helpless, disheveled in the wind."
"full city of golden armor!"
"Jay Chou, you should stick to singing!"
"Such a big production, just to open a moutou shop!"
"Is there really no place left to spend money, 'His Royal Highness Prince Jay'? What dynasty had this kind of address? Just putting on a show of pomp and circumstance, are you directing the Olympic opening ceremony?"
"Chrysanthemums and cleavage, Zhang Yimou's aesthetics are getting worse and worse!"
Watching the increasing number of dirty joke comments online, Zhang Weiping was so angry that his blood rushed up, and he almost fainted!
Li Chen didn't need to guess; even if there were genuine comments from netizens behind this, there must also be 'troublemaking' from Yang Siwei, that little chubby girl.
However, he did not stop Yang Siwei's actions. It was time to make Zhang Yimou sober up, and perhaps he could see Zhang Weiping's true character one day sooner.
The overwhelming negative reviews and dirty jokes were even more directly reflected in the box office.