¡°What level of market response counts as success?¡±
"To be honest, I don't know either."
This was the first time that Lin Youlun gave an answer that surprised Dong Qianli since the interview began, so he followed up by asking: "Why?"
"Judging from the current Asian film market, the film markets in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea have become saturated, not to mention Hong Kong. Due to the constraints of population and market size, a film with a box office of hundreds of millions is already The limit, and this is under the condition of double the ticket price, the normal film can reach the limit of 50 million box office, and now there are basically several such films every year, so the market reaction I am talking about here does not mean These areas are not included.¡±
With Lin Youlun¡¯s explanation, Dong Qianli finally understood that Lin Youlun¡¯s real intention was to pursue the mainland market.
"Although Hong Kong films have been introduced to the mainland since the late 1980s, the mainland film market mechanism has never been perfect. It has long been based on the planned economy. With the deepening of the mainland's reform and opening up, in fact, the government The top management is also aware of this problem. The opening up of the mainland film market is an inevitable trend in the future. I believe there will be many people like me who want to know how much market potential this market with a population of one billion actually contains. Even I can It is no exaggeration to predict that in the first ten years of the new century, China's economic aggregate will definitely rank second in the world, and the Chinese film market will also become the second largest box office area after North America. The Hong Kong film market will rely on its inherent market to develop. We have reached a bottleneck now, and if we want to go further in the future, we can only focus on the mainland market."
From this conversation, Dong Qianli could clearly feel Lin Youlunxiong's confidence in the mainland film market. In the subsequent reports compiled from this interview, he also specifically mentioned this view of Lin Youlun.
Lin Youlun has attached great importance to the mainland film market for a long time. After this report was published in the latest issue of "Ming Pao", the outside world regarded it more as a way for Lin Youlun to express his political stance.
As the premiere dates of "The Thirteen Hairpins" and "The Golden Wheel" approach day by day, the media's attention has long been diverted to these two films. All the media are speculating on which premiere Lin Youlun will return to attend. Mode.
"The Thirteen Hairpins", director Spielberg did it entirely because of his personal relationship with Lin Youlun. That's why I agreed to direct this movie. Otherwise, any other director would not easily touch such a sensitive subject that has little to do with him, because it is completely a thankless task.
Another thing is that Youlun Lin and Spielberg are just simple friends. As two of the three giants of Oriental DreamWorks, the two have very consistent interests. In both public and private matters, Lin Youlun should come to support him.
Of course, if things were really that simple, the media wouldn¡¯t be quarreling over this issue, and some people would even bet on it. In fact, "Tai Ping Wheel" also has a lot to do with Lin Youlun.
Film director Wu Yusen is one of the first directors in Hong Kong to collaborate with Lin Youlun. The two have collaborated many times over the years. The relationship is extraordinary.
As for the three heroines of the film, Lin Qingxia and Lin Youlun are step-siblings. If it were not for giving Lin Youlun face, she would never come out to act again after getting married. Not to mention Zhong Chuhong, she has a daughter for Lin Youlun. . There are even rumors that Lin Youlun paid such a high price to make this movie all because of her; and the last heroine Chen Hong was single-handedly made famous by Lin Youlun. Although there is no evidence that the two are dating, it is an indisputable fact that the relationship between the two is ambiguous.
In addition, among the male actors, Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai more or less agreed to star because of Lin Youlun, so if Lin Youlun missed the premiere of "The Wheel", it would definitely be unjustifiable.
On the day of the premiere, many Hong Kong media were not sure where Lin Youlun would go, so they had to divide their forces into two groups. However, reporters who had just arrived from overseas were not so entangled.
The American reporters also ran in both directions, but the number of people who went to the premiere of "The Thirteen Hairpins" was obviously more than that of "Tai Ping Lun". The Japanese reporters were simpler, basically they went to "Tai Ping Lun", plus the ones from Some reporters from mainland China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia basically had about the same number of reporters present at the two premieres.
In the editorial office of a certain magazine, a young man opened the door and barged in with a hurried expression.
"Editor-in-Chief, the entrance ceremony of "Tai Ping Wheel" has ended. Many celebrities came to support, but Lin Youlun did not show up. It was also confirmed by the scene that the organizer did not arrange Lin Youlun's seat."
The middle-aged man with glasses behind the desk stood up excitedly, "If you didn't go to "Tai Ping Wheel", then it must be in "Golden Wheel".""Thirteen Hairpins" is there, hurry up, contact the reporter over there immediately to confirm the situation! "
As soon as he finished speaking, the phone beside him rang.
"What are you talking about? Lin Youlun didn't go to the premiere of "The Thirteen Hairpins". How is this possible?"
Soon, most of the media in Hong Kong confirmed the news. Lin Youlun neither attended the premiere of "The Wheel of Peace" nor the premiere of "The Thirteen Hairpins". As for where exactly Lin Youlun went, this is not known. People know.
¡°Compared to the frenzy of reporters, film critics seemed much calmer, and their attention was entirely focused on the two films themselves.
Liu Ruicheng is such an independent film critic. When he walked out of the cinema, he was still reminiscing about the half-hour fierce battle at the beginning of "The Thirteen Beauties", with shells and bullets flying everywhere. Flesh and blood flying, that's all when he closed his eyes, and he was even trying to remember how many Chinese soldiers there were in the last battle to defend Nanjing, how many were left in the end, and other such details.
Obviously war is not the theme of this movie, but Spielberg still spends a lot of the movie to exaggerate the cruel reality of war. Otherwise, there would not be such a battle scene showing the defense of Nanjing at the beginning of the movie. .
Hong Kong movies have never lacked gunfight scenes, and some of them are very big and passionate, but these are not on the same level as war movies.
Precisely because of the lack of this type of film, Liu Ruicheng can't help but admire the director's skill every time he watches such a big-scene war film, and Spielberg is obviously a master of it.
He has such control over the entire film that he can freely control it, giving the audience an immersive feeling. This sense of distance between the audience and the film is vividly demonstrated through various details of the film.
For example, before the battle started, the Chinese soldiers who knew they were surrounded behaved differently: some were shaking hands unconsciously, some were cleaning their guns silently, and an officer put down his binoculars and took out his wife's photo for one last look. At a glance, various details clearly convey the tension of the impending war to the audience.
And once the battle started, this tension quickly turned into cruelty.
The Chinese army's position was covered by fierce artillery fire. A soldier whose arm was blown off looked for his arm everywhere, then found the broken arm and held it in his hand at a loss; the seriously injured soldier lay there and kept screaming and wailing; A bullet killed the soldier's comrade. Just when the soldier was glad that it was not him who died, another bullet shattered his head The remains were broken limbs, broken brains, and flowed out from the body wounds. intestines, every shot is so shocking.
Liu Ruicheng swore that the Nanjing defense battle in "Jinling Thirteen Beauties" was definitely the most realistic and detailed war scene he had ever seen. It was so bloody that he couldn't bear to witness it, so much so that some viewers were shocked when watching the movie. They all quietly covered their eyes, unable to bear to look.
This kind of realistic depiction of war scenes does not have any subjective color. This may be Spielberg's unique advantage as a foreign director in shooting such films. He will not judge who belongs in this battle. The righteous side only truly shows the cruelty of war, and through this touch and shock, the audience will naturally realize the inhumanity of war and the value of peace.
This method is more than twice as clever as simply reflecting the brutality of the Japanese army.
Liu Ruicheng was thinking about these questions in his mind, and as the people left the venue and walked out, the pager hanging on his waist rang.
After seeing the number displayed above, Liu Ruicheng ran to the entrance of the theater, discussed it with the owner of a store, and then used the store's phone to return a call.
"How's it going? How do you feel over there?"
As soon as the call was connected, Liu Ruicheng asked impatiently.
The friend and colleague on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment, "It was so shocking. The whole process of the sinking of the Taiping Wheel was exactly like reality. There was no trace of any special effects at all. I didn't know how to use that scene. There are no words to describe it.¡±
¡°It¡¯s just the special effects, what about the plot?¡± Liu Ruicheng frowned.
"The plot is also very touching. The scene where the three couples parted ways when the ship sank made many people in the cinema cry." The colleague briefly described his feelings about watching the movie, and then asked about Liu Ruicheng's side. Case.
"Spielberg's control of the war scenes in this movie is definitely the best among movies of the same type. No, it can be said to be a textbook for war movies. As for the plot, I'll give it a try first. Anyway, it's worth it. Take a look!" Liu RuiCheng changed his hand to hold the microphone, "By the way, I didn't see Lin Youlun at the premiere. Did he go to your place?"
The colleague¡¯s answer was very surprising.
"No, I thought he was with you!"
Liu Ruicheng couldn't help but frowned. Lin Youlun didn't attend both premieres. This is too abnormal!