Chapter 188: Li Ningyu's Invitation
On New Year's Eve, Li Chen's cell phone inbox was full of New Year's greetings messages.
Most of the artists in the entertainment industry seemed to have made a pact.
Liu Yifei called to wish Li Chen's parents a Happy New Year.
She said something to Li Chen's mother that made Li Chen's mother laugh uncontrollably.
Li Chen asked her, but couldn't get a clear answer.
When he asked Li Chen's mother later, Li Chen's mother just smiled and played dumb.
In the evening, Li Chen watched the Spring Festival Gala with his parents.
At the moment of the New Year's Eve countdown, the classic three black minutes of the Spring Festival Gala appeared.
The blame lay with Uncle Benshan's skit, 'Egg-laying Rooster, the Fighting Rooster among Roosters,' which was too effective and ran severely overtime.
This caused the subsequent programs to either be cut or postponed.
Li Chen's parents didn't notice anything.
They just felt that the hosts were a bit hesitant.
But Li Chen was a professional; if this were a movie, he would have called 'cut' several times.
The next day, the three black minutes of the Spring Festival Gala went viral online.
At the same time, china partner also met the audience on Chinese New Year's Day.
However, the most eye-catching thing on Chinese New Year's Day was not the three words 'china partner,' but the name Wang Quan'an.
Following Zhang Yimou, another Shaanxi native captured the Golden Bear.
During a media interview, he said something that almost made Li Chen laugh his head off.
The bald man sighed about seeing many beautiful French women at a reception in Berlin.
He and Yu Nan were both stunned.
Li Chen really wanted to expose this old pervert's true colors.
You old lecher, if you were stunned, you were stunned.
Why drag Yu Nan into it?
Would a beauty be stunned to see another beauty?
However, this guy's aesthetic has always been the full-breasted and plump-hipped type.
The foreign body types indeed fit the bald man's style very well.
It's just unknown if this guy had a fling in Berlin.
Although Fan Bingbing gained nothing, how could Fan Bingbing miss such a great opportunity?
She took her whole family west, first attending a fashion show in Milan.
Then, it was rumored that she went to France to shoot some fashion blockbuster.
The media also gave her an awkward praise, saying that a Hollywood director had taken a liking to Fan Bingbing.
And strongly invited Fan Bingbing to star in a Hollywood movie.
This was after Zhang Ziyi, Zhou Xun, Tang Yan, and Liu Yifei.
Another Chinese actress going international.
However, Fan Bingbing's starring films released domestically, haunted mansion and cell phone, both flopped completely.
On the first day, the national box office for one was less than one million, and for the other, less than six hundred thousand.
After ten days of release, both films lacked staying power.
And the successive releases of Protégé and china partner.
Even caused many cinemas to directly pull haunted mansion from their listings.
Who wants to watch a ghost movie during the New Year!
Ever since china partner was released.
It swept away all other films in the Spring Festival Film Season with an unstoppable momentum.
The best-performing co-production Protégé, and Twins Mission, which was released on the same day as Chinese New Year's Day, could not withstand the sharp edge of china partner.
Bona Film Group, the distributor of Protégé, claimed that Protégé had been released for two days.
Although it encountered the Hollywood blockbuster Night at the Museum on Valentine's Day.
It still had full houses, and the box office exceeded twenty million.
After five days of release, the box office even surpassed 45 million.
But no matter how much the hype, china partner broke it on its first day of release.
The film that was consistently packed was the currently popular china partner, not the heavily watered-down Protégé.
Imagine, who would want to watch ghost or drug-related movies during the Spring Festival?
The Spring Festival Film Season is, of course, the main stage for comedies.
china partner's first-day box office crushed all its competitors in the Spring Festival Film Season.
15.5 million!
The word-of-mouth was also as expected, with some good and some bad, but overall good.
"Never experienced it, but I resonate with it!"
"so young's years seems closer to my campus life, but the unrelated china partner told a story that resonated with my heart."
"Xiao Li Zi is truly a golden storyteller!"
"The most magical thing about this film is that people from the 50s to the 80s can all find their own shadows in it."
"This is so young! Youth is not about handsome men and beautiful women, not exclusive to one generation; youth belongs to everyone."
"Xiao Li Zi's aesthetic taste has always been on point, whether it's Ruan Ruan or Su Mei, all beauties."
"If you don't agree to me, I'll jump into the lake with you! Goodness, so this is how you can woo a girl!"
"Even the egg sellers on the street earn more than you, why don't you partner with me! If there's chicken to eat, I'll do it! Do you want to eat, or do you want to do it???"
The classic lines from china partner were parodied into short videos by netizens.
The stories of the three partners of New Oriental were also widely discussed.
Even Old Yu, who initially didn't favor the project, unexpectedly spoke out, saying he didn't expect china partner to be so effective.
New Oriental's stock price even rose!
This truly achieved the win-win goal that Xu Xiaoping and Li Chen had hoped for beforehand.
Rongchen Film and Television won both box office and critical acclaim.
New Oriental also gained more attention and an increase in its stock price.
This was unexpected by industry insiders; it turned out that movies could be made this way.
A single movie actually caused an outside company's stock price to rise, which was truly astonishing.
After one week of release, china partner's box office reached 145 million.
This delighted Han Sanping of China Film Group Corporation, a partner of Rongchen Film and Television.
Even the unpleasantness at the Premiere was forgotten.
After all, money is the most practical thing.
With money, China Film Group Corporation could do things more freely.
Such as the upcoming support for domestic films.
Han Sanping knew full well that eight out of ten domestic films would not make money.
But China Film Group Corporation still had to invest in supporting these old, middle-aged, and young directors who lacked commercial box office appeal.
Who made China Film Group Corporation the big boss?
After the Spring Festival, pieta continued filming, and Miss Liu continued her martial arts training!
"Action!"
Inside the small bedroom.
Deng Chao entered from outside the door, and Maggie Cheung on the floor instinctively moved backward.
She didn't know what the bloody object held by her 'son' in the tweezers was.
Deng Chao sneered inwardly, his eyes showing no emotion.
To prove that the woman in front of him was not his mother.
He gouged out a piece of flesh from his thigh.
Completely disregarding the fresh blood that had already soaked his thigh.
Step by step, he approached the woman on the floor.
"Eat it!"
Maggie Cheung looked at her 'son' in front of her, who was smiling like a devil, and understood everything.
"Cut!"
Deng Chao and Maggie Cheung both turned their heads, looking at Director Li who had called a stop.
"Director Li, is there something wrong with me?" Deng Chao asked with a smile.
Li Chen nodded: "In your laugh in that scene, I only saw schadenfreude."
"Remember, you are a cold-blooded debt collector; now you only have cruelty and indifference, even perversion!"
"Take a break and continue."
Deng Chao rubbed his cheeks vigorously: "Okay, Director Li, I'll think about it more."
Maggie Cheung smiled, walked to the side, lit a cigarette, and chatted with Li Chen.
Li Chen looked at Maggie Cheung's exquisite face, and his heart stirred.
"Hua, after this play, there's another play; I wonder if you're interested?"
Maggie Cheung smiled: "What kind, what genre?"
Li Chen smiled: "You must have heard of the message, right? There's a main character named Li Ningyu in it."
"You can read the original novel."
"Although this is a main-theme movie, I don't plan to shoot it like those documentary-style main-theme films."
"Instead, I'll inject some new elements into it in the style of a commercial film."
"Think about it carefully; I think this role would also be a challenge for you."
"The other female lead is Zhou Xun from my company."
"I'm really looking forward to seeing you two international film queens acting against each other!"
"Isn't this another version of the 'Double J Project'?"
Li Chen's eloquent speech made Maggie Cheung a bit tempted.
She promised Li Chen that she would read the novel carefully before making a decision.
Li Chen was not in a hurry; although Maggie Cheung was a bit older, her appearance didn't show her age.
Li Ningyu herself was six or seven years older than Gu Xiaomeng.
However, Chen Guofu chose Li Bingbing, who was a few years younger than Zhou Xun.
Although it wasn't out of place, personal preference played a role.
Li Chen hoped that Maggie Cheung could leave behind more memorable roles.