I Know Everything - Chapter 653
Chapter 653: They all want meat.
Half of the movie market in June was for artsy movies.
The important summer vacation was in July and August but the root of the vacation would already take place at the start of the second half of June.
The literary movie directed by Zhu Mei, ‘Widows and Orphans’, was a story of an orphan and an old woman depending on each other to live.
There was nothing shocking about the movie and mainly relied on the acting skill of a 16 years old girl and a 60 years old woman to prop up the story.
Zhu Mei thought the setting and structure of ‘Widows and Orphans’ was very good from the script as it could represent real life so she was willing to take on the project.
It took them 2 months to film the movie and the film was released in June.
It was released on the same day as ‘Penguin Planning Bureau’.
The result was ‘Penguin Planning Bureau’ generated 223 million yuan in the box office while ‘Widows and Orphans’ generated 57 million in the box office.
Widows and Orphans looked really weak at first glance but the production cost of it was only 7 million while the marketing cost was 13 million.
The 57 million already earned back their cost and at the end, the film’s copyright, streaming broadcast etc…it would easily earn them the double of their investment.
What about ‘Penguin Planning Bureau’ then?
Their overall loss was 60 million.
An artistic film with a small production cost was able to get good results and the return was double the investment so everyone said it was thanks to Zhu Mei.
Because many people wouldn’t go see the movie if they only saw the cast and the synopsis.
In addition to the profit, the film was well received by the critics as many of them praised Zhu Mei for being able to tell a simple story beautifully.
The story was simple but not easy.
Touching but not sensational.
This was Zhu Mei’s style, to tell a beautiful story without anything extra.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Zhu Mei and ‘Widows and Orphans’ would be on the selection list of the major domestic film award at the end of the year.
Who wouldn’t like a director who could bring the company money, praises and awards?
Many people started to say that Zhu Mei increasingly resembled the brilliant Hao He.
Even Hao He himself told reporters while he attended a party that Zhu Mei’s movies were the ones he was looking for in future artistic films.
In China, this was basically the old handing the torch to the young.
It meant Hao He assigned Zhu Mei as his successor.
Of course, Zhu Mei didn’t need any of those.
Her reputation had long been on par with that of Hao He internationally.
‘Love Letter’ made Zhu Mei famous.
And ‘Miracle in Cell No.7’ directly made her an internationally renowned director.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration that people would pay to see a Zhu Mei’s movie even if it was hot trash in China.
They would at least give her a budget of 50 million yuan and if there was a need, there were people that would be willing to give her a budget of 100 million.
Moreover, everyone knew what Zhu Mei would shoot next.
The Tale of Hachiko!
It was a novel written by the famous writer Chu Liuxiang and it started serializing in October last year and ended at the Spring Festival this year. This was a novel that earned the tears of many readers.
In less than a year, it was estimated that at least tens of millions of new-born puppies were named Hachiko whether they were huskies, corgis or poodles.
Especially in the cities.
During morning or night, if someone walked to the riverside or dog park and shouted ‘Hachiko’, at least a dozen dogs would turn their heads toward that person.
At the same time, more than 50 million people went to the subway station Chen Huan wrote where Hachiko and his owner met and took pictures.
Many of them even came with their dogs.
It seemed that those dogs could be like Hachiko after doing that.
It is a popular way now.
What people liked the most was qualities that they didn’t have.
Loyalty and filial piety were two of the most sought after qualities here.
Hachiko represented loyalty.
The story of his meeting with his owner, the professor, the story with the little girl, the story of how he waited by the stations every day after the professor’s death until he died of old age… Hachiko had become synonymous with loyalty.
Dogs already represented loyalty but with Hachiko, it became a legend.
The Tale of Hachiko was very loved by the dog lovers.
Even the cat’s slaves loved the story.
This wasn’t only in China.
After the story was translated into Japanese, Korean and English, all the cat and dog lovers around the globe fell in love with the story.
There were 50 million people who visited the Lin’an Subway station and at least one third of them were tourists from Japan or Korea.
This proved how many people were touched by the story!
This was a work that already had millions of fans so how big of a sensation would an adaptation of it?
It may not be as strong as ‘Miracle in Cell No.7’ but it would at least be 70 or 80% of it.
Everyone had an idea of it after seeing how much Shanhai Streaming benefitted from ‘Miracle in Cell No.7’.
‘Miracle in Cell No.7’ was already a monument for the Chinese Film industry and the foundation for the rise of Shanhai Streaming.
It was rumored that the president of Shanhai Streaming invited Zhu Mei to dinner as early as right after the shooting of ‘Widows and Orphans’ was done and it was even before the movie made it to post production.
The matter of adapting to ‘The Tale of Hachiko’ came up during the dinner.
Given the relationship between Teacher Chu Liuxiang and Zhu Mei, she was obviously the best choice.
Zheng Rongrong already asked Zhu Mei before what was Teacher Chu’s plan but she didn’t answer her.
It was the same in that dinner as Shanhai Streaming didn’t announce that they would be shooting ‘The Tale of Hachiko’.
This allowed people to smell a different odor.
The once rock solid working relationship between Chu Liuxiang and Shanhai Streaming had now a crack!
Regardless of whether it was because of what happened with ‘The Stingy Chu Liuxiang’, it was a fact that Shanhai Streaming was unable to be 100% certain that they would get the right for ‘The Tale of Hachiko’.
That being the case, wouldn’t they want to get this big piece of juicy meat?
Wasn’t meat good?
Comments for chapter "Chapter 653"
MANGA DISCUSSION
Support Fan’s Translations
Note: Individual translators usually have their own ko-fi buttons.