Chapter 811

The night in Beijing was bright with lights, and the prosperity of an international metropolis could only be fully revealed at this time.

In a large private room on the 66th floor of the China World Trade Center, Tsui Hark was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window holding a glass of red wine, looking out at the neon lights.

Behind him was a dinner party hosted by Huayi Brothers, with Wang Zhongjun, Wang Zhonglei, Feng Xiaogang, and others all present, along with many actresses and female artists from the Huayi system and other entertainment companies.

It was obvious that these people were there to accompany them, simply put: to accompany them for drinks!

"Director Tsui is still a bit worried?" Wang Zhonglei walked up to Tsui Hark leisurely, holding a glass.

"Mr. Wang, although I also love money, this kind of cost is truly unjustifiable. Director Lin Nan's hard sci-fi *The Wandering Earth* only had an investment budget of 500 million, and *The Four Heavenly Kings* is just a martial arts film with not many special effects shots!"

Tsui Hark turned his head to look at Wang Zhonglei and spoke his mind. However, the latter remained calm and shook his head with a smile: "The *Fengshen* trilogy from Beijing Jingxi Culture is three billion, does Director Tsui believe that?"

Seeing Tsui Hark stunned and speechless, Wang Zhonglei continued to lobby: "Director Tsui, just focus on making a good movie; the high salary and profit sharing are what you deserve. As for the rest, it has nothing to do with you."

"The list of alternative actors Huayi gave me doesn't have any big stars. Compared to the first two, the status of the actors has clearly downgraded significantly, but the cost has quadrupled or quintupled! If something goes wrong..."

"I'll say it again, if something goes wrong, what does it have to do with you? Director Tsui, you are just a director!" Wang Zhonglei emphasized his tone and stressed it again.

Afterwards, he glanced at Tsui Hark's assistant and young wife in the distance and joked: "It's very expensive to raise a child now; Director Tsui needs to save up some family wealth."

Hearing this, Tsui Hark's eyes swept across the room. He was also thinking about something and making a decision.

After a long time, as if he had made a great determination, he nodded earnestly to Wang Zhonglei and said seriously:

"Mr. Wang, *The Four Heavenly Kings* will be the last collaboration between me and Huayi. From now on, let's all go our separate ways."

Hearing this, Wang Zhonglei subconsciously narrowed his eyes, but in an instant, he returned to his usual mask-like smile, "Okay, no problem."

Not long after, as Feng Xiaogang started making dirty jokes, the atmosphere at the dinner party suddenly became even more heated.

Time passed quickly; in the blink of an eye, two or three hours had passed, until midnight...

With the anticipation of countless fans and audiences, finally, *Railroad Tigers* and *See You Tomorrow* were officially released.

And if you add *Operation Meigonghe* and *The Great Wall*, the scene of four major Chinese blockbusters crowding into the same release period was truly rare.

Therefore, many media practitioners specifically released a final piece of film information before turning off their computers to sleep, jokingly saying: "The curtain of the chaotic battle for the New Year's slot has truly been raised!"

……

Last night, Lin Nan specifically turned off his phone before going to sleep, and Liu Yifei did the same; the two had a tacit understanding to just sleep until they woke up naturally in the morning.

Because they could fully anticipate how chaotic the internet would be and how boiling and uproar the public opinion would be; it was better to stay far away to avoid being harassed.

But sometimes there really is "a slip in a hundred plans"; the two of them hadn't even woken up naturally before they were artificially "woken up."

Han Jia and Watching Shu Chang ran over before 10:00 AM, so Lin Nan and Liu Qianqian had no choice but to get up.

"You two are still sleeping? It's already noisy outside, no, it's a scolding frenzy!"

"Brother, you and *Operation Meigonghe* are on the headlines, and *Railroad Tigers* is there too..."

"Countless netizens and viewers are tagging you, saying you've become a clown..."

"I heard Jackie Chan only landed at Beijing Airport at 4:00 AM, but just now, he even went to pick up Uncle Ren. My dad is muttering, saying these two are here to surrender..."

After washing up and sitting in the living room, what greeted Lin Nan and Liu Yifei was the chattering noise.

Miss Liu leaned lazily in Lin Nan's arms, dozing off. The way she squinted at Han Jia and Watching Shu Chang was like looking at two fools.

"Alright, alright, keep your voices down and tell me slowly." Lin Nan scolded.

"Outside, in just a few hours, *Railroad Tigers* and *See You Tomorrow* have already been scolded by the entire internet; they are completely the target of public criticism..."

Just as Han Jia said, less than 10 hours after release, both New Year blockbusters had fallen.

The former was because of that person who had never appeared in the promotional materials, while the latter was entirely because it was a complete piece of trash, and there was even a trend of it becoming a recognized trash film... All the viewers felt they had been deceived by Wong Kar-wai!

……

"It's simply reckless and lawless. This red-headed document has no binding force at all, or rather, is it only used to restrict ordinary disgraced artists who have no background or backing?"

"Before it was *Monk Comes Down the Mountain*, this time it's *Railroad Tigers*, and it's even a case of 'openly repairing the plank road while secretly crossing the Chencang.' His screen time is more than the officially announced second male lead; he is the second male lead!"

"A disgraced artist making a comeback in violation of regulations, and it's even a mainstream film controlled by the Shanghai Film Group; this is simply too ridiculous."

"No, by comparison, *Operation Meigonghe* is the clown. This film is too damn eye-catching; it's a slap in the face!"

"*Railroad Tigers* VS *Operation Meigonghe*, who won? Anyway, I think the latter lost, lost completely."

"Let Director Lin come out and say a few words about his thoughts; 'reality' makes his film look like a joke! No, let Jin Dun and the Public Security Department come out and talk..."

"I know Jackie Chan's contribution is very, very great, but isn't it too much for him to do this? And the Shanghai Film Group, they are a state-owned enterprise!"

"Actually, I quite sympathize with Big Brother; a lifetime of fame, and he actually produced such a thing. Forget it, let's understand him once."

"As for the Bureau, my heart is more dead than grief..."

"Some people are banned, yet they can still show their faces on the big screen again and again as leads, while other people of the same kind disappear from the front of the stage forever. This society is hopeless, forget it."

"Speaking of the matter itself, apart from the issue of the disgraced artist, this film is actually quite good. Unlike Wong Kar-wai's *See You Tomorrow*, with a cost of over 400 million, forcibly feeding shit to the audience..."

"*See You Tomorrow*, *See You Tomorrow*, I suggest Zhang Jiajia Baidu how to be a human again..."

"If Zhang Jiajia can be considered a film director, then Guo Jingming is a film master!"

"The structure is chaotic, the lines are pretentious, the story is stiff, and the actors' performances are completely below standard..."

"Wong Kar-wai, Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Eason Chan... how much money do they owe Alibaba to film this kind of movie?"

"Stop scolding Zhang Jiajia; he's just a sucker. Think about the creative team of *See You Tomorrow*; is that something he, a pure layman and newcomer, could command?"

"That was directed by Wong Kar-wai! You can tell from the filming cycle of *See You Tomorrow* that Wong Kar-wai is broadening his themes... He is moving closer to Stephen Chow's nonsense style, but he failed."

"A cost of over 400 million, is this helping to launder money?"

"Wong Kar-wai's *See You Tomorrow* successfully ferried Director Zhang Yimou; those film critics who scolded *The Great Wall*, you should apologize to Director Zhang and *The Great Wall*, don't just keep kneeling and licking Wong Kar-wai..."

……

At noon, Han Jia and Watching Shu Chang naturally stayed to mooch a meal. Including Liu Xiaoli, the topic discussed by the five people at the dinner table was still about the few films.

Facts proved that the release of *Railroad Tigers* and *See You Tomorrow* won a large amount of support and backing for *Operation Meigonghe* and *The Great Wall* in just 12 hours.

Especially for *The Great Wall*, it was simply like a life-saving straw.

Because setting aside the inherent problems of the plot setting, *The Great Wall* was undoubtedly a high-quality blockbuster that killed Wong Kar-wai's *See You Tomorrow* today. The former's daily box office would inevitably turn around and rise because of this!

"Now it seems that the main problem with *Railroad Tigers* is that Uncle Ren and the others 'knowingly broke the law'; but *See You Tomorrow* is different, it's a real piece of trash, rotten to the core!" Han Jia concluded while grabbing food with Watching Shu Chang.

"I guess the Bureau should be a mess right now, right?" Watching Shu Chang asked uncertainly.

"I don't know if the Bureau is messy, but I know Director Zhang should be busy with something else right now!" Lin Nan said with hidden meaning.

"What do you mean?" Liu Yifei was also curious.

Actually, Lin Nan had just realized it too; perhaps the two people in the Bureau had been silent about *Railroad Tigers* not just because of Ren Zhonglun.

Or rather, Director Zhang was waiting for today's public uproar. He could just use this matter to wipe out that group of people in one fell swoop!

"Director Zhang might be busy with the retirement of that group of people."

"You mean?" Liu Yifei and Han Jia realized it instantly, while only Watching Shu Chang looked confused. As for Liu Xiaoli, she didn't care about these things at all and had already gotten up to go for a walk.

"Hmm. So Chairman Ren and Jackie Chan might have to wait a few more days in Beijing; at least Director Zhang will definitely not see them today or tomorrow, he has no time."

Just as Lin Nan said, Zhang Hongsen had indeed been brewing anger since the morning.

And when the post from the Public Security Department, "*Railroad Tigers* uses a drug-involved artist, which is not only unfair to the sacrificed anti-drug police but also a desecration of the anti-Japanese war heroes," was released at 2:00 PM, Zhang Hongsen decisively took action!

……

After being scolded for a day on the 23rd, *Railroad Tigers* and *See You Tomorrow* handed in their first-day box office report amidst the condemnation of the entire internet, with the two reporting 32.76 million and 39.42 million respectively.

On the 24th, the scolding on the internet went to another level.

To be precise, the film reviews for *See You Tomorrow* were all scolding; while *Railroad Tigers* had a small amount of sympathy and understanding mixed in with the scolding, after all, the film was indeed quite good.

These two films also upheld the path of "black-red," and on the 24th, the second day of release, the box office rose to 41.66 million and 58 million respectively.

However, compared to *Railroad Tigers*, the "black-red" of *See You Tomorrow* was even purer.

It can only be said that those curious viewers who wanted to see Wong Kar-wai's trash film hadn't been exhausted yet; I guess it could continue to harvest for another day or two?!

As for *Operation Meigonghe* and *The Great Wall*, it was indeed as many people expected; the daily box office on the 24th rose significantly, with the magnitude being over 10 million for both.

On the morning of the 25th, facing the overwhelming negative reviews and scolding, Alibaba Pictures was the first to take action and issued a statement on its official Weibo to respond:

"The audience not liking it does not mean the film is bad. We respect the fans' right not to like *See You Tomorrow*, and we also respect the fans' freedom to say it is bad.

But malicious comments and negative reviews are two different things, especially those malicious scolders and those who attack Director Wong Kar-wai without a bottom line; your behavior is despicable and very low..."

Alibaba Pictures' strong response successfully overshadowed the problems of *Railroad Tigers* with the limelight of *See You Tomorrow*. It also reduced the controversy over *The Great Wall* getting a one-month extension key to the lowest point.

After all, compared to these two "problem films," *The Great Wall* getting the second extension quota for the New Year slot didn't seem to be a big problem. Hmm, acceptable!

However, Lin Nan, who was happily eating melons at home, couldn't accept it. He held his phone and shouted: "What does it have to do with me? Why call me to do what?"

That's right, Han Sanping called and asked Lin Nan to go to the Film Bureau together.

"It has nothing to do with me either, but wasn't I also named?" Han Sanping retorted angrily before explaining:

"It's a temporarily notified meeting; you are one of the representatives of filmmakers in the industry, and you must arrive before 2:00 PM, unless you are not in Beijing at that time. But even if you are not, you must send Yue Jun over!"

Fine, Lin Nan really couldn't refuse this time. After agreeing, he simply asked about other things: "Han Dong, let me ask you something. Chairman Ren and Jackie Chan should both be at the Film Bureau right now, right? How is it being handled?"

On the other end of the phone, Han Sanping was clearly hesitant. After a few seconds, he spoke: "There will be a disciplinary action for Old Ren, but it's not a big deal, because it's for the group.

As for Jackie Chan, you know, his influence and contribution are too great, so this time they will turn a blind eye. But certain things, once used, will definitely be less..."

Lin Nan understood; the result was indeed as he thought; but this is reality, unsolvable.

"Fine, it can only go this far. But speaking of which, I'm actually a bit curious about the content of the meeting this afternoon. Han Dong, didn't Director Zhang reveal anything to you?"

"It can be considered good news. You'll know when you get down there."

"Playing riddles again?" Liu Yifei looked at the phone Lin Nan hung up and couldn't help but joke.

……

Hong Kong, Jet Tone Films.

When *The Great Wall* was being scolded as a trash film by overwhelming reviews and Zhang Yimou was viciously cursed by film critics, the great Director Zhang remained silent; this has also been his style for so many years.

But Wong Kar-wai couldn't reach the level of Zhang Yimou; he couldn't accept that *See You Tomorrow* and himself were being scolded and attacked by the entire internet.

Because he was the producer of this film, the executive producer, one of the production companies, and also the "director" of this film!