Chapter 598: Amazing Magic, I'm Displeased with Him
The sequel to Now You See Me continues the thrilling magic show and the style of the thief in the previous film.
In addition to the cast of the main characters in the previous film, there is also a classmate named Milk Tea Zhou.
When making the sequel, Zhou Yutang had already made it clear that he would not appear in the third film.
Therefore, according to the script setting, his presence will be weakened accordingly.
He disappeared in the early stage, became Carrie in the middle and late stages, and faked his death in the end, leaving the audience with suspense.
In this way, some of Zhou Yutang's roles were transferred to Milk Tea Zhou, and the main purpose was to highlight the characters of the other members of the main cast.
Customized spin-off dramas about the members of the main cast are also in the plan.
Compared with the story of the previous film, the world view of this sequel has been expanded to a certain extent, and the magic team behind the scenes has also been strengthened.
In addition to the original team of David Kwong, David Copperfield was specially invited as a magic consultant.
This is the most prestigious magician of the contemporary era, and he also provided a lot of inspiration and creativity for Guo Fan and other creators.
"Hi, Zhou, nice to meet you. Haojiang is a very beautiful Chinese city."
David met this young tycoon who was very popular in Hollywood, and his attitude was very enthusiastic.
"David, thank you for your advice to the crew. I think the audience will be amazed by the great magic."
"Haha, I am looking forward to it."
Of course, the main reason why David Copperfield was so warm and polite was that Zhou Yutang gave enough money and was very generous.
Money can make foreigners work.
During the equipment maintenance period, Zhou Yutang and Guo Fan reviewed the shots taken in the early stage.
Then they found the leaders of the special effects team and held a meeting to discuss the highlight of the second part, the raindrop suspension magic.
This raindrop suspension magic was an idea that Zhou Yutang had when shooting the first part.
At that time, considering the content and time limit, it was put in the second part.
"Awesome."
Deng Chao said that he wanted to learn the shooting techniques and sneaked in to attend the meeting.
He is now passionate about his sideline as a director, and is also very interested in Jiangdong Entertainment's latest commercial film production industrialization process.
Long before the filming of the movie, the storyboard had been animated, not waiting until the filming was finished to do the special effects.
The top special effects artists accompanying the group have already made specific simulation animation effects.
After watching the specific effects rendered by the special effects team, Deng Chao applauded, and later pulled Zhou Yutang to secretly ask: "Yutang, what is the principle of this?"
"Visual retention."
Zhou Yutang was speechless: "Brother Chao, didn't you say it in the meeting just now?"
"I said it, but I didn't fully understand it."
Deng Chao scratched his head, his face full of an expression of confusion.
In fact, the principle is very simple, that is, using a certain frequency of light to shine on the water droplets. If the falling frequency of each water droplet is the same, it looks like it is relatively still.
There are several necessary conditions.
The water pipe nozzle tied to the high altitude to make rain, the empty square in the dark night, and the square has sufficient light sources.
Coupled with the post-production special effects editing, what is presented to the audience is a visual feast.
Zhou Yutang briefly explained the principle of this magic to him: "Brother Chao, do you understand what I said?"
"Fuck, that's awesome!"
Deng Chao held it in for a long time, then raised his thumbs and uttered a few words.
The equipment was repaired and the shooting rhythm was resumed. Today, Huo Wenxi came from Hong Kong to visit the crew and brought local snacks from Haojiang to the crew.
"Wow, this Portuguese egg tart is delicious."
Liu Shishi's eyes were shining on the other side of the video.
"Then I'll taste it for you first."
Zhou Yutang did a live eating show across the screen.
The egg tart base is made of crispy egg crisps, which are extremely crispy and will fall apart with a slight touch.
The upper layer is a soft egg yolk layer, and the filling of the egg tart is more than two centimeters thick.
The perfect ratio of eggs and cream is achieved, and the filling is full of egg and milk flavor, with a delicate and rich taste, which really melts in the mouth.
Liu Shishi could smell the rich aroma of milk and eggs through the screen of her mobile phone, and she swallowed her saliva unconvincingly.
She has been busy shooting commercials, standing for brands, and shooting a bunch of magazine covers recently. She has to keep in shape and pay special attention to what she eats.
Seeing Zhou Yutang's enjoyment without any trace of acting, it was really hateful, and she wanted to rush over and bite him.
After teasing Yijie for a while, Taozi called people to shoot, and Zhou Yutang returned to the chair behind the monitor and quietly watched the little chef of Hong Kong pretending to be cool.
Xie Tingfeng became famous before the millennium.
At that time, everyone unanimously believed that he was the new generation king of Hong Kong circle.
Unfortunately, to this day, his box office performance is obviously not convincing enough, and it is not even as deeply rooted in the hearts of the people as his emotional entanglement with Bai Zhijie and the princess.
"Clear the scene, be quiet, and prepare for the test shoot!"
After all departments are ready, the actors walk through the positions, the script supervisor hits the board, and then the shooting begins.
This scene is a confrontation between the villain Xie Tingfeng and Deng Chao. Without the help of his family, Chao is no match for the villain No. 2 boss and is played around by him.
Then the protagonists take action and use magic to easily get rid of Xie Tingfeng, thereby introducing the big boss behind the film, Loki.
It was the first time for Zhou Yutang to see Xie Tingfeng act on the spot.
His talent is not top-notch.
But the overall sensitivity of the camera language is good.
Guo Fan just conveyed his request and he knew what effect to show.
The angles, movements, and emotions are all well grasped.
There is just a small problem.
When acting, he will deliberately look for the camera, or do some subconscious tricks that even he may not be aware of to look cool.
Many actors who come from idol schools have this problem.
The same goes for Da Mimi. When she played Xiao Guo Xiang, she was very smart, but as time went on, she knew more and more how to express her beauty in front of the camera.
Of course, Xie Tingfeng himself is very suitable for this role of a slightly neurotic villain rich second generation, and it makes sense to act handsome and cool.
The early and middle stages of the movie are the stage for Xie Tingfeng's performance, putting enough pressure on the protagonist group, setting up a plan step by step, and guiding the protagonist group to steal a chip that can connect to any computer in the world.
——Don’t ask why there is such a setting.
Magic with a touch of surrealism can exist. In this world, anything is possible.
Entering the information age, a certain boss with a background in Angsa wanted to control the world's public opinion through the latest technology chips.
Xie Tingfeng is the puppet hidden behind the scenes and pushed to the stage by Angsa's big boss Loki.
This character who is suspected to be a traitor of the Q organization will be destroyed by the protagonist with a magic counterattack, and some information about the Q organization will be revealed a little bit.
For example, the foreshadowing laid in the entire movie universe, the detective rankings.
"What detective rankings?"
The members of the crew are all old acquaintances. In addition to sleeping with Nazha, Zhou Yutang often gathers with Hu Ge and Deng Chao to chat after filming.
When talking about the background of the movie and the setting of Q Organization, Hu Ge was a little confused. When he came to his senses, he said with surprise in his tone:
"Boss Zhou, are you opening a new trap?"
"It's not like opening a new pit. This is a series of movies that I had in mind when I was working on "Thieves". If the box office of "Thieves" is within expectations, the project will definitely move forward."
"Detective ranking, is it a suspense detective movie?" Deng Chao's mind was spinning quickly.
"It's almost a suspenseful detective-themed movie, with some comedy elements added to it. The specific story setting will probably need to be modified in response to the audience's reaction to "The Thieves"..."
In front of his friends, Zhou Yutang has nothing to hide. "Detective Chinatown" is already in the company's project plan.
"Awesome."
Lao Hu, who is quite cultured, was stunned for a while and expressed his mood at the moment in a simple and unpretentious way.
"So, the detective rankings are part of "Detective Chinatown". This is to create a movie universe similar to Marvel!"
Deng Chao realized something, became a little excited, and his eyes lit up.
"You could say that."
Zhou Yutang couldn't help but laugh when he saw his curious reaction.
Brother Chao, who has just tasted the benefits of becoming a director, is now full of ideas about how to operate commercial movies.
In the past few days since he joined the group, Deng Chao had been pulling him to talk about this.
"A Tang, you are really amazing."
The beautiful royal sister Huo Wenxi who came to visit the class listened quietly for a while and couldn't help but sigh.
Beginning with "A League of Thieves" and ending with "Now You See Me," the first two movies in this series have grossed more than 2.5 billion in box office, sweeping the entire Asia.
Even South Korea followed suit and made a spin-off movie, which did well at the box office.
Now "Now You See Me 2" is being filmed, and the next stage of film plans are in place.
While Huo Wenxi was frightened, he admired Zhou Yutang's layout even more, and he was also indescribably envious.
Yinghuang Group's blockbuster plans are not going well.
A few films were voted in, and a few were rejected.
If it weren't for Zhou Yutang's "Slaying the Wolf 2" to save some face, Huo Wenxi, as the flagship figure of Yinghuang Film in the mainland, would hardly be able to hold his head up when he returned to the group headquarters to report on his work.
This time Huo Wenxi heard that Zhou Yutang was filming in Haojiang, and immediately put down what he was doing and went to the crew.
Nominally, he came to visit Xie Tingfeng, but when he came, he didn't even say a few words to the young master of Xiangjiang, and kept leaning towards Zhou Yutang.
How could Zhou Yutang not know her true purpose? She just wanted to buy a ticket for Yinghuang to go to the big ship in Jiangdong.
We usually have a good relationship, and Zhou Yutang gave this sister reassurance: "In the next three years, it is expected that there will be at least two co-productions. I hope Sister Mani can help me a lot."
"A Tang, as long as it is your project and funding is not an issue, Yinghuang will definitely follow it to the end."
Huo Wenxi's face instantly lit up with joy as he told Zhou Yutang about the Lunar New Year holiday.
This year Jiang Wen's "One Step Away" can be regarded as the big boss in the Lunar New Year movie.
This film is controlled by Beijing Jiang Wen’s own Happy Film Culture Company, with other investors including Columbia Pictures, Yinghuang, China Film Group, Wanda, Happy Blue Ocean, Shanghai Film Group, iQiyi, Dongyang, etc. It has held up a capital plate of up to 300 million.
Jiang Wendu announced that he would kill the New Year party.
Producer Marco also made no secret of saying that this movie is going to test the depth of the Chinese market.
The momentum was so great that other film and television companies in the industry were alarmed, and some movies that had been released at the same time began to be withdrawn.
Huo Wenxi revealed some inside information: "Now Wanda is negotiating with Marco to buy out the guaranteed box office for 1 billion yuan."
"Big dog owner."
Zhou Yutang muttered.
Wanda is the only one in China that can spend RMB 1 billion on a movie at one time.
But this is good news for Jiang Wen.
I don’t know if the news leaked somewhere, but LeTV Pictures seems to have gotten the news.
"Rogue Detective" produced by LeTV Pictures suddenly held a press conference and announced that "Rogue Detective" will be moved to January 16th, avoiding a head-on collision with "One Step Away".
Zhang Zhao is also a human spirit. Although he kept saying that in order to avoid internal friction, he wanted to do some screenings to spread word of mouth, but he was really frightened by Wanda's operation.
A guaranteed box office of 1 billion issuance. There was no such method in the industry before.
As the current leader in domestic theater chains, since Wanda has invested heavily in this gamble, it shows that it is very optimistic about the box office performance of "One Step Away", which will inevitably squeeze the release of other movies in the same period.
"Rogue Detective" If you don't want to be a bird that hits the muzzle, then you can only run away with your tail between your legs.
The young director of Xiangjiang seems to be in a good mood recently. After finishing work, he even booked a theater and invited the entire crew to watch him and Tang Wei's "One Life to Live" together.
This film was originally Da Meiyuan's resource. Later, when she took her parents to travel abroad, she willfully promoted the film, and it fell into the hands of the literary goddess Tang Wei.
In just 5 days of release, the box office has exceeded 100 million, and it has become the highest-grossing film in which the young master of Hong Kong plays the only leading role.
The beautiful looks of the goddess of literary films and Boss Xie are enough to please the eyes once you stop there.
"Brother, I think that turning around and hugging you is really close to life."
Nazha, who has a bit of love brain, was very happy: "They say that true love will become a habit."
After watching the movie, she walked out of the cinema and got into the car. She was still holding Zhou Yutang's arm and chattering about the plot of the movie.
She is only twenty-two years old this year.
What do ordinary girls of this age do?
Perhaps he had just finished his campus life and entered the society, and was severely beaten.
Nazha's experience is different from that of other girls who have just graduated from college. She met Zhou Yutang early on and has been under Zhou Shufang's CPU ever since she entered the company. However, she has never encountered any trouble.
Entertainment companies of all sizes in the circle have already mentioned this, and they all know that this is Zhou Yutang's person.
She herself is not very ambitious, and all she wants to do is hang out with her good brother.
If Zhou Yutang hadn't paid attention and asked Zhou Shufang to control Nazha's social media, she would have taken a lot of restricted intimate photos with Zhou Yutang.
The movie "One Life to Live" has a good box office and reputation, but within seven days, the box office exceeded 150 million.
In the somewhat deserted September, this can already be regarded as an outstanding performance.
In addition, Enlight's "Four Famous Catchers Finale" exceeded 100 million in the first three days, and Chen Jiashan handed in the last passable answer sheet to Enlight.
Chen Jiashan's contract with Guang Guang as a director has expired and he has decided not to renew his contract.
As for "Temporary Cohabitation" starring Yang Ying and Zha Zhahui, the total box office also reached 65 million.
Next is the French imported film "Bugs", and the imported Hollywood blockbusters "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Age of Mutants" and "The Expendables 3" are released together to avoid strangulation with each other.
Needless to say, this is also Pei Kang's handiwork.
Such is the influence of the head of China Film and Television that even Marvel's blockbuster "Guardians of the Galaxy" was delayed until after the National Day holiday.
This leaves enough box office space for Zhou Yutang's project "Heart Blossoms on the Road".
The filming of "The Thieves" crew is still going on, and they will borrow Zhou Yutang's private jet next.
There is a scene where the protagonist group completes the counterattack against the boss Loki on a plane.
During the filming, Zhou Yutang received a call from Milk Tea Zhou classmate.
Jay Chou's scenes were basically filmed in the previous month, with only a few scenes left to be reshot.
At this time, I am not on the set, and I am going to Singapore to prepare for my latest solo concert.
Zhou Yutang allowed him to enjoy special privileges, which even Deng Chao, who had shortened his roadshow promotion period, was envious of.
After all, a celebrity like Mr. Milk Tea Zhou agreed to come over and play a supporting role, and he also received a friendly salary.
He even agreed to produce a Chinese-themed global theme song for the movie, including the mv, Pure Power for Love
"The production of "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Zhou Yutang has been completed. Zhang Yimou's team recently arrived in Beijing in a low-key manner, looking relaxed."
"The Taiping (Part 1)" directed by Wu Yusen and starring Zhang Ziyi, Takeshi Kyojo, Huang Xiaoming, Song Hye Kyo and others is scheduled to be released on December 2. Oriental's "Titanic" officially sets sail and will compete with "Titanic". Hushan" A head-on passionate confrontation!"
"The film was screened for the first time in the world at the Princess of Wales Theater in downtown Toronto, and received overwhelming response and rave reviews."
Although the film industry is deserted in September, several major directors are making moves.
First, Wanda shocked the entertainment industry by buying out Jiang Wen's new film with a guaranteed one-billion-dollar guarantee, and LeTV Pictures fled without a fight.
Then there is the news that Ning Hao's new film "Heart Blossom Road" is a hit in Toronto.
According to reporters' statistics, as a screening film at this year's Toronto Film Festival, "Beautiful Heart" is unexpectedly popular.
There were 98 moderate or above-level laughter during the movie viewing, including nearly 20 laughs + applause.
When the film screening ended, it was already past 11 p.m., but only a handful of audience members left the venue.
I really didn’t buy the press release.
Because a large part of the audience present were local Chinese, there was no barrier to watching the movie.
And Toronto International Film Festival artistic director Cameron Bailey is also pushing this road comedy.
Some Waiguo friends only watched the movie with subtitles. Although they didn't understand the meaning of words like "brainless" in the movie, they also praised this movie with Chinese-style absurd realism.
Ning Hao also held a director forum there, Huang Bo, Ma Su and other leading actors were still promoting the film, and Zhao Liying ended her trip to Toronto first.
Xiao Zhao, a round-faced cute girl, is also a busy person now.
After digesting the traffic brought by "The Best of Us", she has now officially secured her position in the front row of A-list actresses.
Moreover, the cast of "A Thousand Bones," which was the last collaboration with Zhu Yilong, has finally been finalized. After the preparation work is completed, the filming is expected to start in late September, and Xiao Zhao will have to rush back to China to take the final makeup photos.
"confirmed?"
"Well, I have discussed it with Zeng Jia and the others. "Diaosi Men" is very popular now. You also said that this movie can be expected at the box office."
In the evening, just after Zhou Yutang finished the meeting, he received a call from Yang Mi.
It could be heard that Damimi's tone was somewhat excited.
This is Mi Xing’s first film and television investment.
She used her own salary plus some cash to get 15% of the investment share of "Pancake Man", and also gambled on the clause of "rewards starting from 300 million box office".
It's only been a few days, and the game has already been set up.
Dong Xiaopeng is indeed very capable.
In addition to Sohu’s investment of 20 million to obtain a 50% share, Wanda and Xinli are still in the game, and they soon announced to the outside world:
"Created by the original cast of the online drama "Diaosi Men", directed and starred by Dong Xiaopeng, Yang Mi, Liu Yan, Jean-Claude Van Damme joined across the sea, and dozens of first-line superstars guest-starred in the luxurious cast of Chinese superheroes that swept the movie "Pancakes" "Xia" will be launched this month!"
The cost is not high, but the publicity battle is really big.
With the strong audience base accumulated by "Diaosi Men", it even attracts more attention than the new films of some big directors.
Dong Xiaopeng has gone to Hong Kong alone and is preparing to invite Zhou Xingxing to join "Pancake Man".
The film has not yet started filming, and the attention is instantly aroused.
"He actually came to see me."
Zhou Xingxing occasionally calls Zhou Yutang to discuss the preparation progress of the "Mermaid" project. Speaking of this, he still has some regrets:
"Dapeng is a very thoughtful person, but unfortunately the investor has already decided."
Zhou Yutang laughed when he heard this.
As expected of Zhou Xingxing, he is still so real.
Of course he doesn't want to make a bad cameo appearance in this kind of online drama platter movie, but that doesn't stop him from wanting to make a fortune from it.
For him, movies are both art and business.
Now that the opposite investor is in place, it can't be said that he is disappointed.
After all, "Pancake Man" only has a small potential.
The "Mermaid" in his hands is the king, and Zhou Xingxing devoted most of his energy to this project.
"President Zhou, the audition and casting selection has almost been finalized. Have you received the list?"
"Um."
Zhou Yutang took a look at the latest audition list for "Mermaid".
Except for Girls' Generation's Yoona Lin who plays the mermaid, Deng Chao is the male lead, and the second female lead is former star girl Zhang Yuqi.
In addition, Luo Zhixiang, who is very picky about men's gangs, starred in the supporting role of the octopus monster.
It also includes small roles for several artists from Zhou Xingxing's own Xinghui company.
Zhou Xingxing’s project must be his own decision.
Zhou Yutang only recommended Lin Yuner and did not interfere with the rest.
But for now, apart from the fact that it's a pity that Mr. Xing himself doesn't act, there's basically no problem.
After a pause, Zhou Xingxing continued: "There is one more thing I want to communicate with you. Someone in Beijing has found me and wants to recommend Wu Yifan to join the team. I want to hear your thoughts."
"There's no suitable role for him in the script, right?"
Zhou Yutang frowned: "Director Zhou, there is enough attention on the movie now, there is no need to over-hype it."
Wu Yifan, who is currently returning to China under the aura of the Tea Egg Boy Group, can be said to be the top in the industry.
Zhou Xingxing probably took a fancy to Wu Yifan's traffic and was a little tempted.
However, the project "Mermaid" has bi-weekly collaborations, as well as Girls' Generation's top actress in Asia, Lin Yoona, so there is no shortage of traffic.
The script has already been decided. If we bring him into the group now, how about adding an electric eel character?
It doesn't make sense.
"What you said makes sense."
Zhou Xingxing said thoughtfully: "Then forget it."
Then, after talking about Zhou Yutang's schedule, Zhou Xingxing hung up the phone. The female assistant next to him handed over a cup of coffee with an admiring look:
"Director Zhou, you really guessed it. He really refused."
"Haha, that talented woman has a crush on him, and there has been a scandal recently. It's normal for him to be unhappy with that boy."
Zhou Xingxing sank comfortably into the large boss chair, took the coffee and took a sip, with a smile on his face.
What a popular niche guy.
In his eyes, he is not as good as Zhou Yutang.
The movie characters have all been decided, and deliberately mentioning this at this time is just a favor to Zhou Yutang.
After all, Hua Yi has been offended. If he wants to do domestic entertainment projects in the future, it is necessary to have a good relationship with Zhou Yutang.