Chapter 1076: Twelve Turns of Merit; What is CNKI?

"As of last night, Director Ning Hao's film work, the comedy sci-fi film 'Crazy Alien', has been released for 52 days, and the total box office has officially broken the 3 billion yuan mark..."

"Produced by Shiyue Culture under Lin Nan Film Industry, the animated blockbuster 'White Snake: Origin' has been released for three weeks, taking 989 million box office."

"Its daily box office yesterday still had more than 3 million income, and the 10 billion box office threshold is already close at hand, and it is also in the bag."

"According to well-known producer Yue Jun, the copyright and peripheral business department under Shiyue Culture was initially established when 'Monkey King: Hero is Back' was released;"

"After three years of development, the department has continued to grow and improve, and now it is completely mature;"

"In the future, it will be responsible for the animation film peripheral business, including but not limited to copyright authorization cooperation with third parties, product joint cooperation, peripheral IP development..."

"The Spring Festival blockbusters 'Shanghai Fortress' and 'The Wandering Earth' have been clearly scheduled to hold global premiere ceremonies at the Great Hall of the People on February 1st and February 2nd, respectively;"

"Just like the first domestic hard-core sci-fi film 'The Martian', it will shine in the Golden Hall... Today, the special effects business has been completely localized!"

China Film Group, Chairman La is sighing.

Because with the online launch of the third promotional short film and trailer short film of "The Wandering Earth", he can no longer deny a fact:

That is, the gap between the two sci-fi films is not "there is indeed a gap", but a world of difference, and it can even be said that they are in different dimensions.

To say something realistic and unpleasant, comparing the two:

One is like an exquisite Transformer toy, life-size, imitation metal, gorgeous; but the other, it is the real Megatron, standing in front of the audience!

"It was 'The Wandering Earth' that first confirmed the premiere time, and then we followed up. Holding the premiere earlier is the best choice. If it is later than 'The Wandering Earth'..."

"I don't know how the media will report it. They will probably report it by comparison, right? This will be very unfavorable for the first-day attendance rate." Chairman La looked at Teng Huatao and reminded.

"But after all, it is released on the same day, and comparison is completely unavoidable. By then, the growth of one and the decline of the other is absolute. I am worried that the impact might be very serious."

"In all fairness, I think 'Shanghai Fortress' has been filmed very well. If there was no 'The Wandering Earth', this Spring Festival slot would definitely belong to us..."

Teng Huatao stopped talking and looked at Chairman La.

Comparing the two films, in terms of the height of the theme, the appeal of the director, the gorgeousness of the cast, the production cost and large-lens special effects... all are won by "The Wandering Earth"! How can we play this?

"There are not so many ifs. Besides, doing comparisons after release is much better than being taken by people with ulterior motives to pull and smear before release. There are quite a few wolves in this Spring Festival slot."

Chairman La corrected Teng Huatao with a firm tone. Even if you know the gap in your heart, you can't show that you are "afraid".

"Then, the promotion at the premiere, no changes?" Teng Huatao seemed to understand the subtext of the leader's words and asked.

"Still execute according to the original promotion plan. No matter what the result is after release, the momentum before release must not be weak."

"Even if you lose the battle after release, you still can't lose people or momentum." The affirmative and firm answer sounded again.

"I understand." Teng Huatao nodded, knowing what to do.

The propaganda slogan must be shouted, the higher the better, the more momentum the better; the first day of release must not lose, at least let the established fan group stay!

Before long, Teng Huatao left China Film Group. In the office, only Chairman La and the secretary were left.

"Counting today, there are only two weeks left until the Spring Festival. You go and notify Zhou Xingchi, let them fill the promotional roadshow as much as possible within these two weeks. Especially the premiere on the 31st..."

"Okay, Chairman La." The secretary also walked out of the office quickly. Looking at the situation now, the pressure on China Film Group in the Spring Festival slot is really heavy!

"Xi Film Group, Shanghai Film Group, this year, next year... all have to retire." The sigh sounded again in the office.

Although they don't deal with each other usually, they are considered old acquaintances for many years, so Chairman La couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

"After you all retire, Shanghai Film Group and Xi Film Group will probably not be able to be as noisy as they have been in the past two years, right?"

"China Film Group's status and right to speak have been provoked by you for several years. 60 years old... 65 years old? I just don't know if I can be like Ren Zhonglun..."

"Mulan" crew, Liu Yifei is riding a horse, holding a special horse spear about 18 feet long, practicing martial arts movements under the guidance of Yuan Heping's team.

Later, when filming the battlefield scene, the battle between her as the leading general and the Rouran general played by Zou Zhaolong will use the horse spear;

And after both sides fall off the warhorse, they will use their swords and short knives for a life-and-death struggle... Mulan exchanges serious injury for a kill.

"This time it's 4,000 extras, all of them are soldiers from the army, and they will arrive uniformly tomorrow noon. Only they can achieve high-efficiency obedience, without making us lose our voices when commanding."

"Still walking over in the form of a march?" Lin Nan asked curiously. After nearly four months of filming, he really has a sense of guilt.

Because every time he wants to film a large battlefield scene, those twenty-something young soldiers have to "be" marched once, carrying out long-distance walking or cross-country, sometimes even starting from the early morning...

Of course, in cases that are too far away, military trucks will be used for a distance of transportation. But this treatment only appeared once in the nearly four months and more than ten "calls".

"Yes, still walking. Start at five o'clock tomorrow morning and arrive before 12 noon.

Just now the logistics have also been notified, several hotels will start preparing meals from three or four in the morning, preparing with twice the ration of ordinary people, plus fruits, yogurt, etc., it is absolutely enough."

Hearing this, Lin Nan was relieved. Thinking back to the first time, it was a joke.

"Then wait for tomorrow's war scene. Let's try to send 'Chang Wei' away at once and let him wrap up."

While joking, Lin Nan also glanced at Zou Zhaolong in the distance. The latter was also practicing with the horse spear, preparing for his wrap-up big scene.

"According to our current progress, we can basically determine the final wrap-up day, in the middle of next month."

"Lin Dao, this is my first time spending New Year's Eve and Spring Festival in the crew," Guo Fan joked.

"You'll get used to it. Besides, we calculate the Spring Festival 7 days at 5 times the daily salary," Lin Nan joked.

"Lin Dao, Teacher Watching Shu Chang has arrived at the crew's residence," the assistant ran over at this time.

"It's only the 22nd today, did she come so early?" Guo Fan was surprised.

"The announcements are finished, and there is nothing to do in the capital alone, so she ran to the crew in advance. After playing for half a month, it will be New Year's Eve, and then wrap up together.

Speaking of which, the last time Yifei and I spent New Year's Eve in the crew, she was there. That seems to be 7 years ago? Hmm, that's right, it was the New Year's Eve of 2011 in the lunar calendar, when filming 'Bad Genius' in Hong Kong..."

After a few words of small talk, Guo Fan walked away. He still had a lot of things to deal with and arrange.

"Changchang is here?" Before long, Liu Yifei rode her horse and strolled to within 5 meters of Lin Nan.

"Just arrived. You two best friends can sleep together tonight, talk by candlelight, and whisper," Lin Nan nodded with a smile.

Hearing this, Liu Yifei's eyes instantly became sharp, a sneer appeared on her face, she "despised" the big director, and hummed: "Heh, keep dreaming!"

Fine, the big director's little thoughts were seen through at a glance, and he was speechless, only able to smile awkwardly, "Fine, hurry up and train."

"Humph, you'd better not play little tricks on me!" Liu Yifei raised her smooth chin, provoked Lin Nan with a smile, and then rode away.

"You should say another sentence: if you play little tricks again, you'd better watch your skin!"

"What did you say?" In the distance, Liu Yifei suddenly turned her head and questioned.

"Ah? Nothing, nothing..." Lin Nan waved his hands repeatedly, sitting on the director's chair and laughing non-stop.

On the morning of the 23rd, the whole internet was full of New Year's flavor.

Like every year, information about various reality shows and celebrity announcements brushed the screen on Weibo, dominating the hot search list; and news about the Spring Festival travel rush and the Spring Festival Gala were also reported in a rolling manner, not inferior at all.

But for the Chinese film industry, the focus of attention today undoubtedly includes news from Hong Kong; because Maoyan has officially listed!

"This morning, the film distribution and ticketing platform Maoyan officially rang the bell at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and listed."

"Its largest shareholder, Enlight Media Chairman Wang Changtian, presided over the listing ceremony and held a listing press conference in front of nearly a hundred media and cameras in the industry, detailing the relevant listing matters and Maoyan's future development direction and planning..."

"It is reported that Maoyan's listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this time originally planned to issue 132 million public shares, with an issue price of 14.8 HKD, planning to raise 1.824 billion HKD after deducting relevant issuance expenses;"

"But Maoyan performed even better in the actual listing issuance: the international placement part for institutional investors was oversubscribed, and the Hong Kong public offering for ordinary investors was oversubscribed by about 2.32 times..."

"As of the time this information was issued, Maoyan's total market value has reached 18 billion HKD, and its stock price is still rising!"

"Enlight Media controls 44.8% of Maoyan's original shares through multiple channels such as direct shareholding and indirect shareholding, and is the controlling shareholder."

"Tencent and Meituan are the second and third largest shareholders, respectively, while Lin Nan Film Industry ranks fourth with an 8% shareholding..."

"This morning, affected by Maoyan's IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Tudou's market value on the Hong Kong stock market rose slightly;"

"As of the time this information was issued, Tudou's market value has officially broken through 160 billion RMB; just because there is partial overlap in the list of major shareholders of the two listed companies..."

In the eyes of the entire film industry, Lin Nan Film Industry, which boarded the ship at the last moment before Maoyan's official IPO, can be said to have made a profit;

In just 8 months, the 8% shareholding obtained with 800 million HKD has risen by a full 80% in less than an hour today, and the market value of the shareholding has reached 1.44 billion HKD!

"He never invested for money, but for the right to speak. But considering his personality, this is probably also called defensive offense? Because he just wants to ensure that he is not pinched, so he constantly supplements his shortcomings..."

"Supplementing shortcomings? The truth is this truth, but as he supplements... unknowingly, this is already a prehistoric giant crocodile! Haha."

"Isn't there still the cinema business? Didn't he just give up the bet because he was forced by the cinema chain last time?"

Ning Hao smiled and took the conversation, but the envy in his eyes could not be hidden at all; perhaps only when he reaches Lin Nan's level does he have the qualification to lie flat unscrupulously?! ===== CHAPTER 1077 =====

"However, I think there's a high probability this film won't survive until New Year's Eve.

Although the first one accumulated quite a few moviegoers and fans, this sequel changed the lead actor; even the lead from the first one, Xiao Yang, can only play a supporting role... The key is, from today's perspective, they replaced him with a disgraced piece of human trash, hahaha..."

Following Wang Changtian's boisterous laughter, the few people in the office began to chuckle as well.

A moment later, Zhang Mo spoke up abruptly, and his self-deprecating tone decisively captured everyone's attention.

"Originally, according to the plan, my father and I were only going to publicly announce the project 'Under the Light of the Rock' and begin casting after the closing of the Berlin International Film Festival.

But in fact, we have actually been scouting for actors in advance recently; and to say something coincidental, we were quite keen on Wu Xiubo for one of the roles in the script, but now we definitely have to give up on that."

"My goodness, then he really is quite unlucky."

"No, Director Li, you're wrong; it's that we are quite lucky!" Wang Changtian corrected Li Xiaoping with a smile.

"Haha, that's right, that's right, we are the lucky ones."

Li Xiaoping nodded hurriedly. But immediately, she remembered the script and looked at Zhang Mo, asking:

"Director Zhang, has the script for 'Under the Light of the Rock' not passed censorship yet? I remember it was submitted at the beginning of December, and now it's already the end of January!"

"This, to be honest, I'm not clear on the current progress of the review.

However, the Bureau previously said that scripts and finished films submitted at the end of last year would be reviewed starting from January, so I suppose it must already be under review. I reckon the results will be out in ten days or half a month at most, right?"

"Did you forget that there's still the Spring Festival holiday in between? If the results aren't out before the afternoon of February 3rd on the lunar calendar, then we'll have to wait until the 11th after the Spring Festival." Wang Changtian corrected him again.

Actually, Zhang Mo had guessed correctly, because the Film Bureau was indeed discussing the script for 'Under the Light of the Rock'.

A group of people could practically be worried to death by the great Director Zhang! First the finished film, then the film script, and all of it in this kind of subject matter...

"Plot, depth, details, setting... this script is much more ruthless than the finished film 'One Second'!"

"There are too many places that touch or cross the line. What is Director Zhang Yimou trying to do?"

"The anti-corruption theme is too naked, the portrayal of the dark side of human nature is too deep, there are too many metaphors for collusion between officials and businessmen, the crackdown on gangs and the 'protective umbrellas'... these contents might lead the audience to map them onto reality..."

"But this is only a script, after all; is it necessary to use the regulations for finished films to block it?"

"That's a fair point! How many great directors' finished films are exactly the same as the script submitted for initial review? When they are filming, they basically modify and adjust according to their own feelings and ideas at any time..."

"Forget it, the previous finished film already had that kind of result. If we also do this to this script... that wouldn't look very good, would it?"

"I agree. After all, that is Zhang Yimou; it really wouldn't be good to be too disrespectful all at once."

"Director, how should we decide? Give us a word. We can't just take even a film script to the leaders' desks and let the leaders make the decision, right? Then what do they need us for?"

This one sentence directly stumped the department head. After hesitating and pondering with a deeply furrowed brow for a while, he finally made the final decision.

"Let it pass censorship; notify them next month along with that batch of finished films."

"It's really passing?"

"Didn't you all say it? This is just a script. There's still the finished film later; we'll talk about it then!"

Two o'clock in the afternoon, the 'Mulan' crew.

While the swarms of 'extras' were eating lunch, Lin Nan and Liu Yifei, who had just changed clothes but hadn't had time to remove her makeup, walked into the makeup room.

They saw Zou Zhaolong, still covered in 'bloodstains' and also not yet out of makeup, focusing on the special meal for his wrap-up;

Steamed beef with rice flour, clear-stewed pork ribs, stir-fried green vegetables... seven or eight small dishes, which could be described as exceptionally sumptuous.

"Brother Long, congratulations on wrapping up." Lin Nan greeted him with a smile. Liu Yifei also wore a smile and placed a bouquet of flowers on the table, "Best of luck on your wrap."

"This villainous general of mine, who doesn't know martial arts, has finally wrapped up. I'm fifty-two years old, with old arms and old legs; these past few months have really been tough on me, hahaha." Pulling out a tissue to wipe the corners of his mouth, Zou Zhaolong joked self-deprecatingly.

"Then go home and have a good rest for half a month, and come back to attend the film's final wrap-up celebration banquet!"

"That's only natural; how can I be considered one of the core leads otherwise?" Zou Zhaolong said with a playful look, as if to say they couldn't stop him from coming.

4:00 PM on the 23rd, Zou Zhaolong took his assistant and rode the crew's vehicle straight to Diwopu International Airport.

Starting from the 24th, the 'Mulan' crew began another massive relocation for location shooting. It was a laborious and massive workload.

This was only because, according to the plot, time needed to fly by again, and Mulan had thoroughly begun her unstoppable, invincible journey on the battlefield.

Her military exploits continued to advance toward the highest merit of 'twelve turns of promotion,' her status continued to climb, and so did her authority...

For seven consecutive days, the entire 'Mulan' crew completely achieved the state of being oblivious to the world outside; it could be said that they opened their eyes to film and closed them to rest.

Furthermore, there is no doubt that Lin Dao has truly, genuinely lost a lot of weight over this past month or so!

On the last day of January, 'The New King of Comedy' held its premiere, and 'Pegasus' was also holding its premiere.

But unfortunately, the most popular news on the internet was still the grand annual meeting of Lin Nan Film Industry.

Because starting from the 30th, the popularity of the Lin Nan Film Industry annual meeting remained at the top of the entire Weibo trending list, dominating the film and entertainment headlines of all major portals.

The media called it the 'Lin Nan Film Industry Annual Sports Meeting': a total of one thousand people, held for three consecutive days in the Bird's Nest, with ten million RMB in prize money every day!

Just say, in the face of this huge annual meeting bonus, could the netizens on the internet be calm? The answer is completely unable to be calm.

Those cursing their own bosses, those cursing their own companies, those going to the Weibo pages of other companies or studios in the film and entertainment industry to stir up trouble... it was simply countless, truly innumerable.

To use the media's joke, it was that this annual meeting of Lin Nan Film Industry—it had offended the public!

Early in the morning on the first day of February, Lin Nan woke up exhausted once again. He was woken up by hunger; he had to go replenish his nutrition!

It's just that early in the morning, why were Liu Yifei, Watching Shu Chang, Gong Li, and Guo Fan all so emotionally excited? Why were they sitting in the dining room not eating, but chattering away about something?

"Brother, come quickly, come quickly, Beijing Film Academy has made a huge joke." Watching Shu Chang caught a glimpse of Lin Nan at the entrance of the dining room, and her spirits immediately lifted.

"What's wrong?" Lin Nan was a bit dazed for a moment and asked subconsciously.

"Lin Dao, what on earth is CNKI?" Guo Fan looked at Lin Nan with a bitter face; even he, a graduate student of the Beijing Film Academy Management School, felt embarrassed!

"The acting school has caused a huge mess again!" Liu Yifei's expression was also somewhat speechless; she looked at Lin Nan and curled her lip.

"Tsk tsk tsk, I'm afraid the Film Academy won't have an easy time now, especially at this critical juncture; the preliminary art exam is about to start in half a month!

How can there still be such idiots among young actors nowadays? The Beijing Film Academy's Acting School really leaves one speechless." Gong Li sipped her white fungus porridge with a spoon, her tone mocking and contemptuous.