Deceiving Chinese Entertainment Industry for Thirty Years 87

Chapter 85: Box Office Triumphs for “That Mountain”! Director Chen’s Petty Spite!

Chen Hong and Gong Li, of course, knew each other. But in terms of their status in the industry and other aspects, the gap was enormous! Gong Li was at the pinnacle of Chinese actresses. Chen Hong, while filming in mainland China, couldn’t even compete with He Qing and others. But now, everything was different! Chen Hong had carved a completely new path. A beautiful actress transforming into a beautiful director! Now she’d even won a major award at an international A-class film festival. Although the Tokyo Film Festival is indeed not as prestigious as the three major European festivals—a point everyone agrees on—it’s still an international A-class festival. And while China does have female directors better than Chen Hong, none are as beautiful. There are few actresses prettier than her, at best they each have their own strengths. And there are currently no successful examples of actresses transitioning to directing. Hong Jie (sister Hong, a term of endearment) has no rivals in her lane! Now, having won an international award, she can chat and laugh freely with Gong Li, perfectly acceptable! In fact, Hong Jie could clearly feel that Gong Li’s tone and demeanor were different this time. Before, she was so arrogant! Of course, Gong Li was indeed formidable, and even her arrogance was faultless. So, Hong Jie is… enjoying herself!

And this visit to the Qin Palace set was, of course, a tactic suggested by Ma Xun. This tactic was brilliant! It provided a perfectly good reason for her visit. Hengdian is not that far from Shanghai. Along the way, she could see friends and chat casually. Perfectly reasonable. Besides, this “Assassination of Qin” was a truly massive production. Look at this palace! For a single film, they built such a huge structure. Hong Jie had to offer a few words of praise. These words were directed at Gong Li. As for the film’s director…

“Teacher Chen, we still have much to learn from you.”

That was enough. She didn’t need to say another word. The brilliance of Ma Xun’s strategy lay in this. Next, a simple tour of the set, and then off to Shanghai.

…

The moment the renowned director Chen Hong, fresh off her Tokyo Film Festival win, left, Director Chen couldn’t contain himself.

“Next year, we’ll go to the Berlin Film Festival!”

The moment he mentioned the Berlin Film Festival, those who knew him immediately chimed in.

“Teacher Chen, Teacher Chen, we don’t need to, really, we don’t need to. Let’s think this over carefully.”

“Exactly.”

“We need to stick to our own style.”

The reason for their comments was simple. They all knew how slow Director Chen was. Excruciatingly slow. The most obvious example was the opportunity for side businesses while working with him. Like boxed lunches. His film crews always had huge boxed-lunch businesses; whoever controlled the supply chain would make a fortune. Because for any film he made, the boxed lunch costs were guaranteed to be over a million. The current prices are very affordable. Even beef noodle soup only costs two yuan a bowl. The boxed lunches weren’t expensive, but Director Chen took a long time filming. This “Assassination of Qin” also involved numerous large-scale scenes, requiring many people. Up to now, the boxed lunch costs alone have exceeded two million yuan. By the time filming finishes, it’ll likely be over three million. The Berlin Film Festival is usually held in February, at the beginning of the year. They wouldn’t finish filming! Not even close, let alone post-production. So…

“The Cannes Film Festival! Let’s strive to complete this work as soon as possible!”

Director Chen’s tone was authoritative. But his capable assistants exchanged glances.

“Teacher Chen, perhaps we should also go to the Tokyo Film Festival.”

What’s going on?! Logically speaking, the Cannes Film Festival is in May. They probably wouldn’t finish filming by then either. Not going is fine. But after the Cannes Film Festival, there’s the Venice Film Festival. It’s known that the Venice Film Festival holds a very favorable view towards Chinese cinema. And there’s a reason for that… actually, a person. The current president of the Venice Film Festival is Marco Mueller. He’s Italian, of course, but he could also be considered a Northeastern Chinese. He came to China years ago, studied at Liaoning University, and lived here for ten years. After returning to Italy, he built a cultural bridge between China and Europe. Many Chinese films made it to Europe with his help, including “Red Sorghum”. Though that one went to the Berlin Film Festival, Marco Mueller played a significant role. This means… Director Chen certainly couldn’t go to Venice, Italy! Marco Mueller is biased! He favors emo! He was a jury member in Venice in 1993 and hasn’t been back since. Those in the know wouldn’t mention the Venice Film Festival. After the Venice Film Festival, the next logical step is Tokyo. Perfect.

Director Chen pondered for a moment, “But even if we win an award…”

Before he finished, someone offered a solution.

“Talk to Kadokawa, suggest an extra Best Director award.”

Brilliant!

Director Chen was pleased, “Let’s do that.”

His assistants finally breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone knew he filmed slowly. But if he filmed quickly, nobody would make money.

…

“Breaking news: Director Chen declares he will also make a name for himself in Tokyo next year!”

” ‘Jing Ke Assassinates King Qin’ will participate in the Tokyo Film Festival!”

“Regarding the slow filming progress, Director Chen said: Films should be made slowly…”

Just as Hong Jie and her team arrived in Shanghai and began their promotional work, Director Chen responded. This situation… when Hong Jie saw the news in the paper, a smile she couldn’t suppress played on her lips. She was holding it in for too long. It was all within Ma Xun’s calculations! It was as if Ma Xun had taught Director Chen how to do this. But in reality, it wasn’t difficult at all. A little understanding of Director Chen would reveal the approach. This man… his ex-wife, Ms. Hong, gave a very accurate assessment. Petty as a needle! That assessment was spot-on. So, Ma Xun used a minor tactic. Director Chen fell right into the trap. Piece of cake. [Note: The following sentence appears to be a partially-corrupted watermark.]

The next part was interesting. Hong Jie began various activities in Shanghai. The “That Mountain” crew continued their previous strategy, actively meeting with fans. This had a fantastic effect. Take Liu Ye, for example. He’s still a newcomer. But because the film won an award, his photos were featured by numerous media outlets. Wow~ This guy is handsome and sunny! He’s the kind of guy who can get into the Central Academy of Drama just by showing off some basketball moves. He has a very strong screen presence. So, as soon as he appeared at an event…

“Ahhh! So handsome!”

“Liu Ye! Liu Ye!”

The movie theater was in an uproar. Especially the female fans, they went wild. Liu Ye is quite shy right now. He’s genuinely good-looking but definitely a Northeast guy. Any Northeastern person would instantly recognize him. He’s usually the type who is hard to get a word out of. So, his shyness and his inability to speak well…

Wow! It made him even more endearing! Now he could easily carry an event on his own. Hong Jie, of course, had it even easier. Shanghai has a strong film culture, and “That Mountain” is an art-house film. The city’s artistic atmosphere is undeniable. And it won a major award in Tokyo! Shanghai fans were eagerly anticipating it! Interestingly, during promotional events, many reporters asked Hong Jie:

“Regarding ‘Jing Ke Assassinates King Qin’ also participating in the Tokyo Film Festival, what does Director Chen have to say?”

A great question, as this was the hottest news in the domestic film industry. Hong Jie’s response was excellent.

“That’s their film’s business; it has nothing to do with us.”

She said it with a lighthearted laugh, and it was the perfect response! The more she said this, the more the reporters had to write about. The news spotlight would naturally shift to “That Mountain”. This would quickly reflect in box office numbers. It was still the opening week. Shanghai is truly a big city. Four million! Absolutely outstanding results! If this continues…

Industry insiders predicted that the total box office for “That Mountain, That Man, That Dog” would exceed 23 million! Hong Jie was overjoyed, and her next stop was the south.

…

“That Mountain” continued to receive good news from the south. This was the result of Ma Xun’s careful orchestration. Even disregarding the money, the sense of achievement alone was enough. Ma Xun was very satisfied. The movie was inherently good; it was just that in the original timeline, the marketing was terrible. Well, not terrible, it was completely non-existent! Anyone studying this case would be shocked. There was absolutely no marketing whatsoever, yet it still managed to achieve decent box office results. Of course, they were also very poor. In the original timeline, the fact that they managed to finish the film was a feat in itself. But now it was different. Not only was Hong Jie taking the team on promotional tours, but Ma Xun also bought several billboards. This was a significant expense. Bus stop billboards are very effective for film promotion, particularly those near cinemas. There’s no need to go into these details. In short, good marketing requires both skill and money. Now, Ma Xun faced a new challenge.

“Brother, I heard some Japanese want to buy your film?”

“That’s right.”

“Wow! Awesome! Brother, you’re amazing. I didn’t think this film would work, but you pulled it off.”

“It’s mostly the film itself.”

“Yeah, yeah. So, how do you plan to do business with the Japanese?”

“Let me keep it secret for now, okay?”

“You really are… Okay, but if it works out, you have to tell me all about it!”

Sun Donghai called, and his excitement was clear. But Ma Xun didn’t reveal everything. When doing business with the Japanese, you have to be even sharper than they are. And this deal… it had already begun before they even arrived. Ma Xun first made several calls to Fukusaku Kinji. Fukusaku’s family had close ties with Toei. So, the people who came through his connection were from Toei. But there were others. Japan has two other major film companies, Toho and Shochiku. Both had their own theater chains, and they were even stronger, especially Shochiku, originally the industry leader. But Ma Xun started with a tactic. He arranged a “small matter” with representatives from all three companies.

“China is a land of courtesy. Since you’ve come all this way, I must show you proper hospitality. Therefore, I’ll take care of your hotel reservations.”

Hotel reservations? Yes, that was the tactic. Ma Xun booked all three companies’ representatives into the same hotel, on the same floor…

(End of Chapter)

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