China Entertainment 1997

Cao Xuan, who returned to Beijing from the filming in Weishi, was even busier than when he was filming.

We also need to keep an eye on the Spring Festival Gala rehearsals, the remaining English album recording, and the post-movie period, and create theme songs and interludes that meet the requirements of the movie.

The latter is quite difficult.

It's easy to "compose" a single song, and it's easy to write a MV based on the song, but integrating the song into a movie requires skill.

Of course, a serious musical talent is not afraid of composition, but Cao Xuan is a fake, so doing this is much more difficult than directly copying songs.

"When a Man Loves" is a love tragedy movie, and the tone of the song must have these two elements.

There is still a general range. I will go back and look for similar songs and try them slowly. If it really doesn’t work, I can change the lyrics.

During the Spring Festival Gala rehearsal + picking and choosing, Cao Xuan did not forget to pay attention to the rehearsal outside.

The most sensational news in December last year, apart from Cao Xuan being nominated for the Grammy, was the birth of two movies.

"Infernal Affairs", hailed as the salvation of Hong Kong films, and "Hero", the first commercial blockbuster in the Mainland, were released in Hong Kong and the Mainland.

The box office of Infernal Affairs exceeded HK$30 million within two weeks of its release, and its cumulative box office reached HK$55.05 million. It undoubtedly won the 2002 Hong Kong movie box office championship.

The entire Hong Kong film industry, which had been declining day by day, suddenly reached a climax. The Hong Kong media started hyping "Infernal Affairs" and its related creators like crazy.

Especially Liang Chaowei is almost a god.

This period of time is very interesting. In the past two years, he had just become the best actor at Cannes and won three gold medals in "In the Mood for Love", and his status has been rising rapidly.

This year's "Infernal Affairs" is hailed as a classic of Hong Kong films. It is obviously a two-male starring role, but everyone almost unanimously ignored Liu Tianwang. It has a good reputation among professionals in the industry.

Coupled with the previous "East Weekly" incident, he earned enough impression points and sympathy points, and his public impression was impressive.

More importantly, "Hero" in which he starred was also a hit.

The mainland box office was 250 million, setting a new box office record for Chinese-language films in the mainland and surpassing the latter by a large margin.

Many people may not understand what this concept is. Let's put it this way: the total box office in mainland China in 2002 was about 1 billion, and this movie accounted for a quarter.

Lao Mouzi and the other creators were all very proud. Although many film critics and audiences expressed disappointment due to the plot of the movie, and even criticized the movie.

But I don’t have much opinion about the actors, mainly because of the director, Tony Leung, who managed to earn box office results quietly.

With high qualifications, good professional reputation, good public impression, and explosive box office performance, Actor Liang has become a representative figure in the Hong Kong film industry.

In addition to Cheng and Li, two Hollywood big names, Xing Ye is in a league of his own, and even Fa Ge, Liu Tianwang, and Liang Jiahui are a bit shy of his edge.

However, whether it is Lao Mouzi who is mixed with sorrow and joy by the box office and public opinion, or the proud actor Liang, Cao Xuan himself does not matter.

What he really values ​​​​is that the box office of "Hero" means that the mainland film market is beginning to rise.

Movies with over 100 million yuan are no longer a myth. Many film practitioners are excited and gearing up to replicate the success of "Hero".

Famous directors in the film industry are also beginning to think about making blockbusters.

First, there was news from Lao Mouzi's partner, New Picture Boss, that he was immediately preparing to prepare a new movie "House of Flying Daggers."

It is planned to invite Liu Tianwang, Cao Xuan, International Zhang, Maggie Cheung and other big names to participate.

There are also rumors from Director Chen's side. It is said that he is teaming up with China Film and other companies to make a fantasy and grand production, and plans to invite superstars from Asia.

So far, Director Chen's current cards are quite good, especially the new movie of Lao Mouzi has been well received, which further highlights Director Chen's strength.

I also heard that it would be a gathering of stars from all Asia. Everyone was looking forward to the lineup and making guesses.

As one of the most popular artists nowadays, Cao Xuan was naturally mentioned by the audience.

However, Cao Daguan was very grateful for this. If he guessed correctly, this movie was the famous "The Promise" in the history of cinema.

Let’s put aside whether it’s bad or not. Thinking about the two main creators in the original movie, Cao Xuan felt it was too unlucky.

Cao Daguan has always been very cautious about this. Regardless of the East and West palaces or the real concubines of South Korea, he has never had a hobby of keeping photos or short videos.

He would rather be poisoned than die in society...

It is said that Feng Xiaogang of Huayi also wanted to make a blockbuster, but was blocked by the Wang brothers.

The two brothers' capital is not that deep, and they have spent a lot of money on "Heroes of Heaven and Earth" before, so they can't afford it in a short time.

Feng Xiaogang, who was already thoughtful, became increasingly unhappy. There were rumors that he planned to leave Huayi.

Several companies, including Cao Xuan's Fanxing, have contacted him. As one of the most popular film directors nowadays, Feng Xiaogang has a bad temper, but no one can get along with money.

However, Feng Xiaogang has already made an appointment with Zhang Guoli. The two will start a company together, one will make TV series and the other will make movies. The profits from the company's shares will be split 50-50.

No matter how much outsiders give him, it is not as good as being his own boss. However, Cao Xuan knew that it would not take long for Feng Xiaogang to realize that he was not the material to do business, and then returned to Huayi.

During this period of time, Cao Xuan can completely cut off Hu. If Fanxing shares don't want to give it, he can find compensation from other aspects. Money is what matters, and Boss Cao can afford it.

However, he really didn't like this person very much, and he liked to cause trouble too much, so he was not very willing to invite him.

If his subordinates weren't too motivated and wanted to get a famous director for the company, he wouldn't even have the intention to contact him.

But this incident, together with Chen Kexin's last time, also made Cao Xuan realize that the company lacked a capable film director.

This gave Cao Xuan a headache. Good film directors are much harder to find than TV drama directors.

Among the so-called three famous directors in the Mainland, Cao Xuan, the director Chen, has never taken a fancy to him from beginning to end. Feng Xiaogang has talent but no virtue, and the only one he wants to win is Lao Mouzi.

Although this one has a lot of shortcomings, in comparison, he can be regarded as "having both ability and political integrity". As long as he has a good story, he doesn't have to worry about the box office of the movie.

However, the boss of the new picture was too close to Lao Mouzi and was jealous even if he invited Gao Cangjian to film. Cao Xuan felt that if he poached Lao Mouzi, this guy would go crazy.

Jiang Wen's personality was too strong for Cao Xuan to serve him well, and his output was too tedious for Lu Chuan and Guan Xuan to deal with.

After all the calculations, among the mainland directors, only Ning Wei, the number one tool of China Entertainment, is the most suitable.

Wu Ershan is okay, but he hasn't made his debut yet and needs to be trained and trained. Everyone else has their own shortcomings, but Ning Wei has to be the best in terms of overall strength.

So don’t get tired of it, just blame other people for not living up to expectations...

However, Cao Xuan does not set his sights on the mainland. Qualified directors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and even Asia can also sign contracts or be trained.

In the future, the Chinese film market will be rising steadily, and it will be the fame and fortune that countless directors covet.

Fanxing wants money and people, and there is also a theater bonus that most film and television companies cannot provide, which has an irresistible temptation for directors.

The film industry is noisy and bustling, which is a good thing for Cao Xuan.

"When Men Fall in Love" is expected to be released in the summer next year, and will be promoted during the Chinese Valentine's Day. The better the movie market, the greater the benefit to the box office.

However, the premise of all this is that SARS can be successfully overcome.

As early as November 2002, similar news had already spread. By January this year, relevant units had begun to pay attention to it.

Cao Xuan has been paying attention to this matter and plans to send his parents back to his hometown after the Chinese New Year. Compared with the large floating population in the capital, the small city in his hometown is safer.

The same is true for Zeng Li and Hu Jing. Cao Xuan specially said hello that it is best not to come to Beijing for the Chinese New Year this year.

Even if it weren't for the inconvenience of work, he would have wanted to let the two palaces go back to their hometown to rest.

But there was no way, Teacher Zeng had to take care of the students, and Producer Hu was focused on supervising several crews and couldn't leave at all. Cao Xuan could only ask them to pay more attention to them.

January 27, the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month

Senior employees of Cao Xuan's related industries, including Fanxing Entertainment, Box Games, Fengyun Studio, Cao Shangfei, Jiaoyang Venture Capital, Guolan Entertainment and other companies, have begun to hold annual meetings.

In some companies, Cao Xuan did not attend in person due to confidentiality reasons, but they all prepared generous gifts.

Some companies didn't care. He just showed up to express his gratitude to the employees and boost their morale. He hoped that everyone would continue to work hard to make money for him next year.

Among them, the most popular one is Fanxing. Firstly, it is because of the large scale of the company and the large number of employees.

Moreover, employees from Guolan Entertainment, Fengyun Studio, Fanxing Film City and Fanxing Cinema also came to participate along with Cao Xuan’s employees.

The total number of people from several companies was almost 300, and the ordinary hotel banquet hall couldn't be crowded, so Cao Xuan directly reserved one floor for the annual meeting.

In addition to the large number of people, more importantly, there were also many celebrities. All star artists were present, and many friends of Cao Xuan or other artists also came to join in the fun.

Mr. and Mrs. Yuan Quan, Mr. and Mrs. Xu Zheng, Qin Hailu, Mei Ting, and Zhang Tong from Class 96, several artists from Zhou Yi who were filming in the capital, Wu Jing who returned to Beijing for the New Year, Pan Yueming who specially congratulated him, and Mr. Zhou also came.

The entire annual meeting venue can be said to be star-studded, catching up with the average small awards ceremony.

Since it was an internal annual meeting, Cao Xuan and the others did not accept any media interviews. Even Fengyun Studio suffered an occupational illness and wanted to take photos, but Cao Xuan refused.

Although Boss Cao did not sing a song at the annual meeting due to his status, he prepared another program.

1 million cash + other prizes worth about 500,000!

All employees present took the stage to draw a lottery, and were guaranteed to receive more than 2,000 in cash and prizes. Everyone had a comfortable and prosperous New Year.

Since it was kept secret and the outside world didn't know, Cao Xuan also showed off his wealth and gave everyone benefits.

The red banknotes and prizes were placed on the stage, and the atmosphere in the venue suddenly became very warm. Everyone was smiling and the voice of "Long live the boss" could not be heard.

Even people like Mr. Zhou who were not short of money went up to smoke. It didn't matter how much they were, the main thing was to get a good fortune.

At the end of the lottery, the one with the best luck was Liu Tianxian. This girl was probably possessed by the European Emperor in the past two years and had amazing luck. She directly drew a car worth 50,000 yuan and was the best in the audience.

The little girl didn't mean anything and smiled happily. Liu Xiaoli was still a little embarrassed and planned to return it. Boss Cao waved his hand.

It’s only 50,000. If you want a car, you can drive away. If you don’t want a car, you can convert it into money and treat it as a red envelope for your children.

————

ps: I just discovered today that QQ Music, NetEase Cloud, and Kugou Music all have playlists for this book. Just search for [Huayu 1997]. I checked it out and it’s pretty comprehensive. If you’re interested, you can check it out.

In addition, I would like to express my gratitude to several enthusiastic book friends who have done good deeds without leaving their names.